November 02, 2005

WTW DICK DICK Van DICK err uh Durbin

You know work sucks. Monday started out OK but I ended up getting calls all night and finished about 4:30 AM Tuesday. Then back on for a Telco Tuesday from 7:30 till 11:30 am. Now that’s what I call a long day. Yesterday afternoon as I was preparing to live blog a touching episode of Little House on the Prairie and take a nap there was news everywhere, Darn. So I was able to find several candidates to trash today and also get a nap. Sorry I was unable to get to the LHOP. The wife and I played Charles and Carolyn instead.

First up is my wretched Senator DICK Durbin whom I’m kind of torn about. I mean I want to see him out but if some guy like Shimkus runs and beats him where will I get material? Dick just does not get that I see right through the politics of his actions this week. Still waiting on a positive idea from you sir. I’m not holding my breath.

"It's a question about whether or not anyone in this administration in any way misused or distorted intelligence," Durbin said. He said senators "owe the American people some straight answers."

OK since time is short I’ll just let Glen Reynolds take care of you for me. Cause with friends like you our enemy is in good shape. How about we win first and squabble later, novel idea.

Reynolds on MSNBC: Well, okay -- but then the investigation needs to go way back before the war, to 1998, when a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress passed the Iraq Liberation Act.

OK so you can hardly nominate DICK this week without a mention of Harry Reid. I’m not from Nevada but I felt better that I was not in the only state with a moonbat Senator. Hey Boys in case you have not noticed there is a war on right now. You can whine all you want about how it started. No votes for anyone who wants to drag up some more mud and hinder progress with cheap political bullshit. In all fairness to Reid he supports my right to flame him here which almost redeems him sorta.

OK let’s add to the list Gov Rob Blagojevich. My fine ILL Republicans have been keeping tabs on him for me. Lets’ see what they have in the newsletter this week below the break.

Here are your White Trash Wednesday bloggers

WILLIAM HOLLAND STILL CAN'T SUPPORT GOV'S CLAIMS... Auditor General William Holland reported additional audit findings in an effort to try to justify how Governor Blagojevich came to the amount he has touted as money saved through his reforms at Central Management Services. There still appears to be a $75 million discrepancy. Other disturbing findings in the audit have been given to Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office for investigastion. (Tribune 10-27-05)

• THE TRUTH BEHIND ALL KIDS. We all know that focusing on children's healthcare is a great way to distract the press from a slew of subpoenas handed down this week for the Blagojevich administration. The Governor's AllKids facts are shaky though. Of the 263,000 children that the he uses as a figure of uninsured children in Illinois, 155,000 of those children are already elgible for Kids Care, another medicaid program geared towards individuals under 18 whose households make less than $40,000 a year. This figure is staggering considering that the only reason that these children are not insured is because their parents have failed to fill out the proper paper work to enroll them in the program. A second disturbing fact behind AllKids is that you do not even need to be a legal resident of the United States. Anyone is elgible for the program. The projected costs are untangible. This legislation is very conceptual. The Illinois Republican Party believes in children, not false more false promises from this administration.

• BOND SALE, NOT USED CAR SALE. Senate Republicans this week called for a Security and Exchange Commission ("SEC") investigation into the possibility that the Blagojevich administration made false financial claims in a $300 million bond sale. In the administration's sales pitch, Blagojevich overstated claims that savings from recently approved pension reforms would save the state $3 billion. However, the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability ("CGFA") said additional costs may add up to over $4.7 billion, which was omitted in the initial presentation to potential investors. Senators Syverson (R- Rockford) and Radogno (R-Lemont) made the complaint stating that they did not have confidence in the numbers that were presented based on the CGFA report. (Pantagraph 10-26-05)

Actually the Kid Care program is good you just have to be really, really poor to get in. Is this a problem yes but Tenn. has a much broader program but the cost has been terrible. Better to have a limited program that you can afford than to go too big and then to scrap the program because you are broke.

October 21st newsletter here that I never got to blog.

PAY FOR IT YOURSELF ROD. Chairman Andy McKenna called on Governor Rod Blagojevich to pay for an additional Central Management Services audit, by accounting firm Deloitte and Touche, out of his campaign. "It's shameful for the Governor to ask taxpayers to fund a duplicative and frivolous audit just so he can put a politically favorable gloss on his questionable claims of cost savings at CMS," McKenna said. The Pantagraph's editorial board echoed McKenna's concerns today, "This smacks of a move to bolster the governor's re-election campaign. That's why his campaign should pay for the consultant, not taxpayers." (Pantagraph 10-21-05)

• THE GOVERNOR'S HEALTH CARE FAILURES. Governor Blagojevich has not quenched AllKids critics' thirst for details as he is failing to get medical organizations behind th e plan. "Legislators don't vote on concepts," the Chicago Tribune editorial board said today in regards to AllKids. The proposed legislation is following the path of the I SaveRx prescription drug venture that has already failed on its one year anniversary. The Southern Illinoisan called for the program to stop this week, "As we stated before this was a bad idea from the start. The state should not be involved in what amounts to a private business function." (The Southern Illinoisan 10-19-05)

• BEAN BRINGS IN THE PAC CASH. Congresswoman Melissa Bean (D-IL 8) ran against former Republican Congressman Phil Crane on the premise that he took too many contributions from Washington special interests. Bean has now earned a place in the top ten of ALL members of congress who receive the most cash from political action committees. Bean ranks number nine on the list, raking in over $150,000 in special interest money. Her latest FEC filing reveals Bean has received more individual donations from New York than she raised in her own district. Her support is clearly coming from outside the district and state, not from the communities whose interests are supposed to be served.