Illinois Democrats: I'll keep my raise thank you very much

Illinois Democrats are showing their true colors when it comes to a nearly $12 billion budget hole.
On Wednesday House Democrats blocked a GOP sponsored measure to prevent an annual 2.8 percent cost of living increase in lawmakers' salaries. The preventative measure would save the state about $2 million a year, according to Rep. Bill Black, a Danville Republican who sponsored the legislation. With a near $12 billion budget gap, an annual savings of $2 million isn't going to do much, but, as many struggling families know, every little bit helps. And that was the point of Black's proposition. Black told the Chicago Tribune he knew the measure would not help the budget much, but said it would show the people that lawmakers are doing their part.
But House Democrats did not see it that way. Black's measure failed 64-50 along party lines. While Democrats weren't willing to part with a pay raise, they're perfectly willing to ask the people of Illinois to shoulder the budget responsibility with talks of increased taxes. While 9.1 percent of the Illinois population is out of work, lawmakers are going to earn more money out of our pockets.

I am an extremist according to DHS

Do you dislike an expanding federal government?
Do you worry about the loss of U.S. sovereignty?
Are you concerned about issues like abortion and illegal immigration?
Do you talk about this publicly?
If so, you’re in the cross hairs of the federal government for being a “right-wing extremist.”
A Department of Homeland Security document released earlier this week (and also a rehash of a 2001 document) stated that "Many right-wing extremists are antagonistic toward the new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of issues, including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities, and restrictions on firearm ownership and use.”
Sounds like DHS is describing the tenets of the Republican Party. So, like our ancestors did when we cast off the yoke of the British crown, stand up and proclaim to the government that you are a right-wing extremist. Contact your elected officials and announce your extremist tendencies. Tell them you are concerned about immigration, about high taxes and that you believe the federal government has become too large. Tell them your extremist views must be addressed or something extreme will happen - like voting them out of office.

Guilty until proven innocent, or not?

It's disturbing when you find out someone you've known personally or professionally has been accused of committing a vile act. This week it's happened to me.

I've been on vacation back in my beloved North Carolina. I went to visit my friends and former colleagues at The Wilson Daily Times on Monday. It's been 10 months since I've seen some of them and two years since I've seen most of my former colleagues. During my visit to the paper my former editor asked me if I knew a certain English teacher at Wilson Community College. See, I taught history there part time for many years. The teacher in question, and I'll decline to mention his name in my blog, but will link to the article, has been arrested in connection to the rape and molestation of a 12 year old boy in Pennsylvania.

I served on a committee with the accused teacher and never did I think this man had such vileness inside him. Of course, we don't typically think that of any of our friends and neighbors. Oftentimes you'll hear the same old mantra of "he was a quiet neighbor" or some such blather when someone is charged with a heinous crime. But this time it's happened to me.

In this society one is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but human nature works the opposite way, one is guilty until proven innocent. It's interesting because just this week I saw the Academy Award nominated film Doubt, about a priest who may or may not have molested a child at the parish school. There were no answers in that film, it was up for the audience to decide the answer. Currently I'm in that same boat regarding the man I knew.

While I certainly hope the charges against the man I know are false, notions of guilt are already slipping into my head. And even if he is proven to be guiltless, his reputation is forever destroyed.