Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way
that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
Sherry Rothfield
Nanny of the Month
Facebook Corner
(IPI). Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s pension proposal cleared the first of several hurdles shortly after House Speaker Michael Madigan unveiled a measure today that sets a course for property tax hikes on homeowners and benefit cuts for City Hall workers. The proposal could be on a fast-track through the General Assembly. The bill cleared a House committee today on a 6-4 vote, setting it up for consideration by the full House. Then it would need to get through the Illinois Senate, where Senate President John Cullerton, an Emanuel ally, has set a hearing on the pension measure.
It was amusing to hear the spendthrift party griping about lack of votes from the GOP to bailout Dem commitments to crony unionists which asks for almost no concessions from current and short-term prospective retirees and looks for yet another increase on property owners. Be really careful of what you wish for: it's harder to demagogue when you're in power.
This pension deal is nothing but a sellout the working men and women of the city of Chicago. They should be ashamed of themselves after promising all this for all these years all of a sudden now it's a problem it used to be that a promise made us a promise kept not anymore it's time to say goodbye to the mayor of Chicago and he like somebody that represents us and not himself
Oh, COME ON! Nobody, including the union, is gullible enough to believe what I call the "Wimpy Law of Politics": "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." Where were the union gangsters when their bought-and-sold Dem allies decided to fritter away money that should have gone into the pension fund on other tax-and-spend priorities? Do you think it's fair for the next, smaller generation to bail out, at their own expense, spendthrift politicians' promises to the largest generation Baby Boomers, whom will likely live decades in retirement?
(IPI). It is likely that fewer than 2 million of the nation’s previous 48 million uninsured now have private insurance coverage as a result of the health-care overhaul.
I may not like the PPACA in it's entirety (meaning, I don't think it's perfect, but it's certainly better than what we had), but nobody lost any coverage that was worth a damn. And often, their NEW plans were cheaper, and better than the previously held junk insurance.You should re-investigate those claims, they're not all what they seem (shocker). http://www.washingtonpost.com/.../a-hard-hitting-anti.../
This "progressive" shill literally knows nothing. I've personally debunked these talking points dozens of times--the allegation of junk policies (keep in mind each state has an insurance regulator, and any contract breach has legal ramifications) amounts to a statistically insignificant number; the allegations of insurance companies whom will drop drop you as soon as you get sick and other political fear-mongering urban legends. No, you are not getting superior health care--it is true some people are socializing their own personal healthcare costs and they are happy other people are being forced by the government to pay their costs. But the people who are being forced to pay other people's healthcare, over and beyond true risk sharing are NOT getting 'better'; they're not only inheriting a system where central planners are micromanaging your doctor's treatment, but they are getting saddled with extra-cost, unwanted, unneeded "benefits" which reflect special interest groups corruptly trying to socialize their costs. Only gullible "progressives" could buy this piece of crap after decades of mismanagement of healthcare programs which have always blown past budget from a party that has never balanced a federal budget in decades of federal legislative control and run up a $17T federal debt with at least another $85T in unfunded senior entitlement liabilities.
(IPI). A recent study conducted by researchers at Harvard University showed that a child born into poverty in Illinois has only a 6.1% chance of earning an annual wage of more than $100,000 by the time they’re 40 — one of the lowest rates among all 50 states.
It also found that the areas with the highest rates of income mobility were those with the highest-quality schools.
Parents of students in Illinois' lowest-performing schools want the option to send their child to a higher-quality school. In fact, a recent We Ask America survey showed nearly 50% would use the money currently being spent on their children at a public school to pay tuition at a school of their choice.
Now they are attacking education pretty sure They will soon be telling everyone that sun is 34.4% brighter everywhere else. Education isn't cheap put the money where our children need it most.
Trust parents to spend their own tax money on the most competitive schools for their own kids.
The state constitution says the state is supposed to provide 50% + $1 of school funding. Because of our budget woes we not only don't come close to that, we're dead last in the nation in state funding for schools at 27%. If we're going to fix our schools it's not going to be by letting for profit charters and private schools skim more profits off the top. It's going to be by junking our failed flat income tax and enacting a fair graduated tax that will take pressure of the property tax system that funds most of our schools now.
The resident troll believes in throwing good money after bad. Forget all the statistical facts at "investing" multiples of what was spent decades ago with statistically insignificant improvements to show for it. It doesn't explain how Catholic schools can outachieve public schools at a fraction of the cost. And here he goes again, trying to steal ever more money out of other people's pockets; pathetically corrupt little man.
Political Humor
The White House says it’s surpassed its goal for people enrolled in Obamacare. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you make something mandatory and fine people if they don't do it, and keep extending the deadline for months. - Jimmy Fallon
[The White House also says it's surpassed its goal for student achievement in Common Core: more than half of children were able to sign their names in the blank underneath "Pay to the Order of the IRS $17.5T" on the front page of the exam.]
The Department of Agriculture is encouraging grandparents to read their grandchildren bedtime stories about nutrition. Stories like “Goodnight Kale,” “James and the Giant Organic Peach,” and “The Little Engine That Could, Thanks to His High-Fiber Diet.” - Seth Meyers
[But not "Green Eggs and Ham", and grandparents are warned against giving the kids warm raw milk at bedtime.]
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Glenn McCoy and Townhall |
Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series
Gary Wright, "Phantom Writer". Some of the best songs don't chart well or even make it to the artist's greatest hits compilation. Gary had a monster solo breakthrough in the mid-70's with "Dream Weaver" and "Love is Alive". I had bought the album just to get this song which got some but not a lot of airplay. I brought it unopened to my pre-med friend Joe's party; let's just say Wright has some experimental, acquired-taste tracks (like "I Am the Sky") and Joe pulled the album before it ever got to my favorite tune.
