Conceal Carry
ArchPundit
I hear the bill will never see the light of day on the floor. Congrats to those who thought the vote was a breakthrough. Many ‘a liberal were snookered with such ploys in the past.
March 2005
2006 GOP Gubernatorial Cattle Call Open Thread
I’ll probably do a couple comment threads during the week, but we are one week out from the one year mark on the GOP Primary. Next Monday will be the first of 52 Cattle Calls!
The Potential Contenders
Steve Rauschenberger
Judy Barr Topinka
Patrick O’Malley
Ron Gidwitz
Bob Schillerstrom
Joe Birkett
Ray LaHood
Bill Brady
Jim Oberweis
John Shimkus
Dan Rutherford
There’s more and feel free to drop them in comments. Try not to slander anyone…making fun of good–accusing of dastardly deeds without evidence bad.
Feel free to slot people as you think they may go for other races as well.
Resist the urge to come up with a dream team–this is about how it’s likely to play out.
All I have to say for the next week is that, this slate is like a gift from heaven for those of us who enjoy making fun of politicians. Add to it the Democratic incumbent, take away my need for sustenance and money, and this could be a full time job.
Redistrict? No. Reform? Yes
Many national and local Democrats are pushing for Illinois Dems to redistrict mid decade and lamenting that we got Rahm Emanuel to head up the DCCC and now he’s not be allowed to play hardball like he should.
The larger question being missed is what’s the strategy? To look as bereft of ideals as the party in power? That’s a hell of a campaign slogan–they’re dirty so we had to get down in the dirt with them….
Or does the Party take a look at the problem and turn it into an issue that many can relate to and run with it?
The comparison of the current Congressional GOP to the Dems in Congress during the 1980s/early 1990s is a great comparison in that both had little to do with policy and more with personal power of the leaders.
DeLay is like a treasure trove of examples of the abuse of power and every time he gets hit, he uses organizational power to shield him.
It’s people like him that lead to a strong desire for term limits–people being angry about how anyplace could keep electing someone so corrupt and out of the mainstream of American values.
Term limits are a stupid idea that limits choices of whom you may vote arbitrarily. So instead of promising a ‘vote’ on term limits as the ‘Contract on America’ did, the Democrats should run on non-partisan redistricting similar to Iowa’s plan.
It’s a reform idea that would force the most complacent in Congress to have to defend their votes, it would make far fewer safe seats in Congress, and it resonates with all those people stuck in safe seats who hate that they can’t vote for someone who has a chance.
Most importantly, it changes the debate from one of insiders complaining about who slimed who, to one of a party of reform versus a party of corruption. The issue alone won’t deliver districts, but it is another step towards reframing the debate to a debate that benefits a party outside of power. Even better, it’s a good idea for American democracy.
The national Dems need to take the high ground and recast this debate into one that doesn’t focus on tit-for-tat insider fighting, but one that can create a message of reform for the Party to run under.
Many safe district Congressman will fight the idea, but they need to be persuaded with a heavy dose of party discipline. In case they haven’t noticed the House of Representatives has been in Republican control for 10 years and running the party as an incumbent protection racket isn’t helping to promote our values. It’s helping incumbent members and that isn’t one of our values.
Trying to argue it’s an argument over the high ground versus all out warfare misses that in all out political warfare, you need a compelling mesage to win. We can be as devious as they can isn’t the way to communicate such a message.
Those Crazy Kids….
Da Speaker suggests Blagorgeous give back the kit and caboodle.
“We played by the rules,” said Cheryle Jackson, Blagojevich’s spokeswoman.
But this is the problem. The Governor has repeated the mantra of changing business as usual ad nauseum and he so damn good at staying on message, none of us can forget it.
He ran on a platform of reform and repeated and repeated it and when anyone challenged them he put them on the side of being against reform.
You don’t think Madigan didn’t have a twinkle in his eye when he said it thinking about how many veiled shots the Governor took at him?
I’m willing to give the Governor a shot at further campaign reform and not be overly cynical about his motives, but he put it on the table and now people are saying yes when he wasn’t ready to accept yes.
He needs to face the fact that he won the campaign. Now he has to govern.
And Cross is right, you can’t keep the money and change the rules in the middle of the cycle. You can give state contractor money back and change the rules or you can keep the money and change the rules for December of 2006. But you set the agenda of reform and the first answer is going to make people a lot less cynical.
Freepers Go Wild On Hale Case
Via The General
Freeper thread on Kevin McDermott’s article
Consider also that Al Qaeda and other Islamofascists have been infiltrating White Supremist and Michigan Militia-type groups for years. Read Jayna Davis’ book The Third Terrorist.
So now Al Qaeda is working with the Creativity Movement.
I thought saying they worked closely with a secular dictator who was afraid of other bases of power was a stretch, but I’m pretty sure that the Creativity Movement isn’t being infilitrated by Muslims. While Al Qaeda and Hale might agree on Israel, the Hale guys aren’t too big on those religions that have people of different skin color.
The gov’t and WE should concentrate on the muzlims in America…They are a far larger threat than any white only, or black only group…
White people couldn’t be behind this, obviously.
The irony award goes to this response to the Beltway Snipers
What profile did it fit? How many white people have gone around in white vans shooting people at random? Is this something I have missed?
Benjamin Smith.
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt
But anyway…there are no nazis, there is no KKK. Sure there are remnants, but there is no real threat and no real organized effort. Any claims otherwise is just silly nonsense.
Demorats like the Creativity movement.
but the guy is right about the hard core are dangerous in a dying movement. Just look at the dums.
Look on the Bright Side
This may be a blessing in disguise. Our country is grappling with judges who do not understand that there is a war, and issues about “torture”, rights for enemy combatants and etc, these new threats may wake them up because for the first time in these judges lives, they are vulnerable and threaten. Survival is no longer an academic thing. Make a dumb ruling that undermines the police and military ability to fight criminals and terrorists have personal consequences.
It’s the Jews
ADL Fundraising time again!
It’s just a message
These murders were committed on the anniversary of Waco.
Message sent. Message received.
Maybe it’s the judge–did you think of that, huh? Didja?
If I were the investigator in this case I would be asking a lot of questions of Ms. Joan.
Being White in America–It’s tough Business
The war on white people continues…
Pot-Kettle Award
go over to read what many of the DUmmies write over at Democratic Underground, they can be loony but funny but there are times they are loony but scary too.
What the Trib Says
But the trading system has limits. On mercury, for instance, there are strong indications that it’s the wrong strategy. The Chicago area was identified last year in EPA estimates as a mercury “hot spot,” where nearly two-thirds of the pollutant comes from sources within Illinois. Since trading programs allow polluters to buy and sell the right to release mercury into the atmosphere, some utilities may decide to buy their way out of federal limits, thus helping to create a “hot spot” of more intense mercury pollution.
Clear Skies should adopt what Rep. Mark Kirk suggests: Stop industry from buying pollution “credits” to emit more mercury in the region.
It’s a good idea to give the industry more flexibility to meet pollution limits. But right now, this bill doesn’t go far enough and fast enough to reduce major pollutants. Unless Republican leaders are able to peel off a vote in committee, the bill will die. Unless they’re willing to make some concessions, it will deserve just that fate.
This doesn’t address the issue of Southern Illinois coal, but it fits almost exactly with my opinion of how to make the law acceptable.
Adding to the problem with the administration proposal is that the mistrust such proposals create for market based solutions. Many environmentalists distrust the idea because they have too often been used to reduce environmental protection. Moving towards a market based solution should entail reaching the same goal only doing it more efficiently. If you want to change the level of air quality, debate that and then debate the way to get therre.
Proposals to reduce monitoring also raise red flags because low levels of monitoring provide incentives for companies to shirk. Because of these problems in the past, environmentalists refuse to consider strategies that reduce pollution more efficiently, making the costs of regulation less and thus the resistance to regulation less.
blagorgeous.com
Damn, I thought Austin Mayor got it since he coined the phrase.
I’m confident that a 2008 run for President will have an appropriate name though….
But a good move to lock up the potential parody sites. G-rod.com belongs to some music site.
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Madigan’s Conceal Carry Ploy
I don’t know what he’s doing, but I have an idea that its pretty devious. Madigan doesn’t let anything out of committee that is controversial unless he has looked down the decision tree and see how it benefits his Members.
A conceal carry bill just got out of Ag and Conservation in the House on a 12-1 vote. The Ag Committee roster shows a preponderance of downstate Dems who are generally opposed to gun control.
John Birch as the NRA ratings for the Lege Members on the committee. If you wanted to kill a bill like this you’d send it to judiciary and create an ad-hoc committee of three people who never meet. Madigan didn’t do that. It’s safe to say he has a plan.
Those Dems who voted on it just got good gun rights activist karma for moving the bill and innoculation in the next cycle on guns.
If it goes to the floor, downstate Dems can vote for it, upstate Dems vote against it and they both win. I haven’t thought through which Districts that might be in the middle and if any high priority races are in that category, but it puts Suburban Republicans in a hell of a position.
Regardless of one’s view on the merits, the policy has 68% opposition statewide according to a January 2004 poll. 56% of that opposition is strong opposition. 29% favor the legislation. In the greater Chicago area a Survey USA poll done for the Sun-Times and CBS-2 showed opposition of 75% in the area meaning if you are suburban Republican you don’t want to go on record on this issue. Part of your base is rabidly for it, but the average swing voter is rabidly against it.
The gun lobby is getting excited and thinks this might pass. They are deluding themselves. I doubt they have the votes in the House and Jones will either kill it or if he adopts a similar strategy to what I think Madigan is doing, Blagojevich will veto it. Contrary to claims that he needs downstate gun rights voters (he’s not getting them anyway), Blagojevich can use it like a hammer on an opponent with either suburban women who hate the law, or deflate any strong movement from gun rights activists to back a Republican who won’t support such a law. He probably wants this to come out so he can tee off on it. It also lets him go to the public and dismiss the Mayor’s criticism of his gun control record.
Wanna have some fun–ask these guys what they think of concealed carry
As an aside, one of the most annoying things about news stories is that they don’t include the Bill number. Why is that? Someone more motivated than me should ask Don Wycliff.