Word From the Feds
Not those feds, our U.S. Senators. In case you forgot what it sounds like to hear an intelligent comment about reaching a budget resolution, check out the today's comments from Sen. Obama:In an equally poignant, yet lighter comment, Sen. Durbin weighed with this gem:"My advice would be to come together and recognize not everybody's gonna get everything they want but it's still possible to craft a budget that takes care of the basics - that transportation is adequately funded, that we are making some expansion of the health care system particularly when it comes to covering kids, that there ... is an infusion of education dollars so that schools at least aren't falling behind but are moving forward," Obama said.
A former state senator from Chicago, Obama also questioned the wisdom of a major gambling expansion to fill budget gaps and pay for things that "we should be willing to pay for out of our tax dollars.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said he had been asked to mediate the dispute between Blagojevich and state lawmakers, but declined.
"I'd rather deal with the Sunnis and Shias than an open civil war. It's easier to figure out who your enemy is," Durbin said.
Deadlocked lawmakers also shouldn't count on Obama to help them sort things out.
"We've got enough dysfunction in Washington to deal with," he said.
Be funnier if it wasn't so true.
posted by Rep. John Fritchey @ 7/16/2007
5 comments
5 Comments:
Talk about two guys with no business pointing fingers with this do nothing congress to explain to voters.
Nice of the feds not to get their hands dirty. Did anyone ask Barack "so, if Illinois tax payers won't foot the bill for health insurance for working class families, and you don't want to expand gambling, can we presume you favor the Governor's business tax? Or are you just a republican when it's convenient?"
Though I'm not in favor of selling the lottery or more casinos, I haven't heard a decent answer to one of the best arguments for doing so: by selling these to private organizations the state locks in money that could vanish in the future. One day this well is going to run dry, or an effective PR campaign (a la anti-teen pregancy) is going to expose this disgusting regressive tax for what it is.
Back to Obama: after endorsing John Stroger (then Todd Stroger) and Dorothy Tillman, maybe he should stick to national politics. I'm undecided who I'm voting for in the primary, but I note that Obama hasn't seemed willing to use any of his immense political capital for any issue other than fundraising.
John, hope is a great quality to keep close to your heart. Disappointment is unrequited hope.
According to Dan Hynes, revenues are up 4.8%. That is a good deal more than inflation.
The governor is inventing programs for which he never created a mandate from the people. Just run it up the flagpole and see who salutes. Neither Emil nor Mike believe their backs are covered.
Each knows that support is thin and getting thinner. There is a growing roar of discontent regarding immigration and its effect upon the structure of American society
Sanctuary and matriculas arenot the American way, especially since the interposition of the illegal aliens takes mobility away from the present lower class which is scrabbling in the world of welfare and the Gray market. This hits core constituencies in Chicago and elsewhere.
How in the world the legal Hispanics and others can be convinced to let dangerous felons exist in their midst is beyond me.
I detect as well an impatience with the continued bad performance of the public school system (disguised under rubrics such as 'improvement') which is being run as a union fiefdom by the teachers with the blessing once again of the Democrat majority -- contributions greatly appreciated.
The word is getting out regarding vouchers and school choice and demand is increasing -- once again among core constituencies of the party.
The state has done nothing regarding the excesses of eminent domain.
These are all issues which, had the Republican Party any leadership other than the great Buddha, Andy McKenna, would have opened their tent by now.
And now we come to health care whose expenses are beyond belief and still growing -- so much so that in terms of serious operations, the best alternative appears to be Medical Tourism. Outsourcing surgical skills is a concept almost beyond belief. Until we learn how to control medical costs we can not afford universal health care. Medicare, for instance is routinely discounting inpatient medical procedures below the posted costs.
The best way to lower costs (other than emergency room procedures with respect to the civil warfare which goes on in our largest city) is through preventative medicine and small clinic operation in the store fronts. This is not very popular, but it is amazing how much good work can be done by Physician's Assistants, technicians and nurses working with the older cat scanners and MRIs connected with the public hospitals.
The much more substantive point our Senators made is that last year they won literally BILLIONS of dollars in new federal transportation funding for Illinois. And yet it will get snapped up by other states if the state doesn't come up with the matching money.
lake county democrat....
DITTO
Sen. Obama is failing his constituents, particularly those veterans who expected him to use his position on the VA Committee to solve the shameful problems of veteran care in this state, by not pushing to solve the many problems in Washington by following his own advise to the state legislator he once served in.
And if health care is so important, our federal reps and state reps should be ashamed of their support to Todd Stroger. This is an obvious example of patronage coming out ahead of the care and service to the public whom they are servants too.
I have decided my vote in the presidential primary. Obama should be campaigning to get my vote for his senate reelection, he may have lost that as well.
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