A Chicago Blog

After news yesterday that government officials are abusing their credit cards, the New York Times is quick to show it really does care about taxpayers. They editorialize today:
A pending Senate proposal would mandate such obvious precautions as regular audits by each department’s inspectors general, second-party approval of credit purchases, the denial of cards to workers [...]

Let’s see, get arrested on charges of racketeering because you took $150k from a booster for steering a talented player to the University of Alabama. Lose your teaching license. Get convicted and sentenced for time served. Do god knows what for a couple years. Get your teaching certification reinstated?
Yep, sounds like the American public education [...]

Barack Obama is the candidate of hope, but most of us have been a little confused about what that means exactly. Now Obama is slowly lending some substance to the rhetoric, by giving away free concert tickets to Ben & Jerry’s favorite band: The Dave Matthews Band. Does Obama plan on giving Dave a cabinet [...]

Seriously, the guys over at AFP have put together a coalition letter supporting HB4765 which would create an “Accountability Portal” on web for Illinois state government. According to their press release the bill would require the posting of “comprehensive information about state spending, state employees and their pay rates, state contracts, state tax credits, and [...]

According to another Trib story:
Linking Gov. Rod Blagojevich to pay-to-play politics, the star witness at the corruption trial of Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko said Wednesday that the governor agreed to a plan to cut off state business from a Chicago financier who failed to come up with campaign cash.
Maybe one of the reasons the [...]

The Tribune Reports:
SPRINGFIELD — A measure allowing voters to dump the governor and other statewide officeholders through California-style recall petitions advanced Wednesday in a key test vote in the House, though its approval is far from certain.
Proponents said the bill was prompted by their dissatisfaction with Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has been criticized by Republicans [...]

From FoxNews:
FOX News has uncovered documents that indicate Wright is about to move to a 10,340-square-foot, four-bedroom home in suburban Chicago, currently under construction in a gated community.
…
According to documents obtained from the Cook County Register of Deeds, Wright purchased two empty lots in Tinley Park, Ill., from Chicago restaurant chain owner Kenny Lewis for [...]

This is the first in a series of post on races where a good free-market candidate is taking on the left. Consider it a serious version of Colbert’s “Better Know a District.” The first is Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional district, where Chris Hackett is trying to take back a traditionally conservative seat from Chris Carney who [...]

The teachers unions will sue anything that moves. Last year, I remember being shocked that union-funded groups went after the Teach for America because the young men and women the program put into underprivileged classrooms were not properly “certified.” Now they are going after the biggest and best school choice program in the country.
Can America [...]

As a bit of a tightwad, it’s great to hear that I’m in good company. Backyard Pundit explains that the Obamas aren’t really the charitable type. Don’t ever say that great men can’t be cheap. Obama is the savior of the human race and I think I’ll pay tribute to him by no longer paying [...]