Illinois

The warning bells in Florida could not have been clearer or louder. Conservative patriots who believe in a small government with maximum personal liberty can either redouble their efforts to sidetrack McCain or wind up driving go-carts with wind-up motors, learning Spanish, and reading their evening news by funny looking fluorescent light bulbs that give only a little more light than good old-fashioned kerosene lamps.

Both Fox news and AP called Florida for John McCain with eighty percent of the vote in and McCain leading Mitt Romney 36% to 31%. Rudy Giuliani came in a distant third with only 15% of the vote. Mike Huckabee came in fourth with only 12% of the vote.

(Read the full post about ‘Florida Warning Bells for Conservatives’…)

by Mark Rhoads Hillary Clinton says the picture above with she, and Bill and Tony Rezko means nothing. I say it is worth a chuckle at least. Matt Drudge ran the photo this morning after Hillary injected the Rezko name into the debate with Sen. Obama and Sen. Edwards.  In a testy exchange Hillary said to Obama. "I was fighting against those ideas when you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago." According to Drudge, Clinton told NBC TODAY show this morning that "I probably have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures. I don’t know the man. I wouldn’t know him if he walked in the door." Wouldn’t it be funny if we found out that Tony Rezko was a (Read the full post about ‘Fun at Drudge: Hillary, Bill, and Tony too’…)

by John Bambenek

Governor Rod Blagojevich has done something remarkable in Illinois. He has managed to unite people across the political spectrum to create consensus that he absolutely stinks as a governor. Illinois deserves better than Rod Blagojevich.

Because of his low approval in both parties and the budget fiasco of last year, legislators (even those in his own party) are talking about amending the constitution to allow recall votes of sitting politicians.

(Read the full post about ‘The Case for an Illinois Constitutional Convention’…)

by Susan Ryan

Where do Illinois citizens look for protections from Republican Representatives like Dan Brady? 

The Bloomington Pantagraph had a ditty about Representative Dan Brady’s (along with Reps. Froehlich and Mautino) bill proposal to offer "options" for camera surveillance detected fines in DeKalb, McLean, Kankakee, LaSalle, Peoria, Sangamon, Vermilion and Winnebago counties.  Citizen Surveillance is already happenin’ in Chicago and St.

(Read the full post about ‘What’s the Illinois Republican Conference Chair Doing?’…)

OK, I’m not really in the mood to do the whole bio recanting, name-dropping and discography overhaul that is your typical mp3 blog post. You either know Steve Poltz or you don’t. You either like clever lyrics or you don’t. You either…you get my point. Steve Poltz has just self-released his new record - Traveling. The song “Hater’s Union” is a self-loathing, auto-biographical piece about Steve’s past with his old band The Rugburns. I don’t think one listen to this slightly (oh alright, down-right depressing) song will be the catalyst to get you to buy this record, but if you’re a fan (and you know who you are) you’ll be picking this one up here ASAP. (Read the full post about ‘Steve Poltz’ new record “Traveling”’…)

Sid Griffin, he of the 80’s country-punk group The Long Ryders, keeps pretty busy with all his musical projects, but it’s his latest group’s release, Turn the Water On, Boy!, by The Coal Porters that should get him the most attention since the late 80’s. The Coal Porters is the group that Sid formed in England with fellow Long Ryder alumns and Chris Hillman from The Byrds on mandolin. They are a pretty traditional sounding bluegrass group, but with both his and Chris Hillman’s musical history they have been attracting a diverse following. The band is pretty content to stay in the UK where they have a bunch of spring dates up on their site, but it sure would be a treat to get them to the states. (Read the full post about ‘Sid Griffin’s (Ex-Long Ryder) new group The Coal Porters - “Turn the Water on, Boy!” (Prima Records, Jan. 20)’…)

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois stands to rake in piles of overdue business tax payments and fees by offering companies that haven’t yet paid six weeks of amnesty.

Business owners are being given from Feb.

(Read the full post about ‘Businesses’ tax amnesty period set to begin in February’…)

CHAMPAIGN – The Great American Seafood store at Old Farm Shops in Champaign will close at the end of February.

Owner of the fresh seafood store Mike Utterback said he has a good customer base, but he’s uncomfortable about the business climate ahead.

So when the time came to renew his lease at the shopping center at the corner of Kirby and Mattis avenues, he decided to pass.

"I just don’t feel comfortable renewing my lease," he added.

Utterback said the next five weeks before the store closes will be a chance to go all out for two of the busiest times for his business – Valentine’s Day and Lent.

Easter, set for March 23, falls two weeks earlier this year than last year, so Lent is getting an early start next month.

"As you could imagine, Lent is a pretty good time for us," Utterback said.

The store has been open for 22 years, and Utterback has owned it for the last 13.

(Read the full post about ‘Champaign seafood business to close at end of February’…)

The past of one of the contestants on this season’s finally confirmed entrants on “American Idol” has been the rage of some blogs for months.

Carly Smithson, who qualified during the San Diego auditions (aired last week on the show), is in fact Carly Hennessy, probably the most notorious singer to ever sell fewer than 400 CDs for a major label.

About six years ago, the Wall Street Journal focused on Hennessy as everything that was wrong with the music industry. (The original story is reproduced here.)

The one-sentence version of the story, from my point of view: A young attractive woman with a decent voice is run through a wringer by advisers and suits, and the resulting “product” fails to strike a chord with listeners during a downturn in CD sales.

The story is an old one, and happens hundreds (if not thousands) of times every year.

(Read the full post about ‘Carly of ‘American Idol’’…)

The Christian community is outraged.

"Imagine the outrage if Ms. Jacobson said, ‘F–k Mohammed,’ ‘F–k Jews,’ or ‘F–k African Americans.’ We would simply ask that the parent company of ESPN, ABC, treat this incident the same way they did when Isaiah Washington publicly used the word ‘fag’ when referring to a cast member," Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition said today. 

"Although the faith community can forgive and extend mercy to Ms.

(Read the full post about ‘What should ESPN do about Dana Jacobson?’…)