Free Republic

Citizens for a Public Option Dear Friend, Moments ago, the Senate voted to begin its full debate on historic health care reform legislation instead of obstructing it with a filibuster. Tonight's vote marks the biggest victory to date for our grassroots effort to pass health care reform with a public option. We cannot give enough thanks to the over 100,000 signers of our petition at CitizensForAPublicOption.com for helping to fundamentally shift the momentum towards meaningful reform. Not long ago, a few loud opponents of reform armed and organized by the insurance industry dominated this debate. Now the American people, the...

They always say Hispanics do jobs that other Americans won’t do. Believe it. You even see it in Congress. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) is getting ready to do something that none of his non-Hispanic colleagues are the least bit anxious to do: introduce a bill calling for comprehensive immigration reform. Why the hesitation? Simple: grabbing hold of this thorny issue is a sure way to lose friends and infuriate people. Here are three things to keep in mind about the legislation: (1) It will likely be the template for what Gutierrez recently predicted would be a rebooting of the immigration...

An Illinois woman is charged with a hate crime for berating a Muslim woman about the Fort Hood shooting and then pulling at her headscarf. The charge could lead to three years in prison: justice or prosecutorial overkill? In the days after the Ft. Hood shooting, mosques around the country bolstered their security in anticipation of a backlash from Americans angry about a Muslim man alleged to have killed American soldiers on their own turf. Since then, only one alleged hate crime against Muslims has been directly tied to the Fort Hood rampage. Two days after the rampage by an...

Vietnam veteran robbed, killed on his way to deposit VFW money William Burtner had helped raise money for WWII vets' trip to Washington Army veteran William Burtner survived Vietnam and dedicated his life to helping other veterans. On Monday, Burtner was about to enter a bank in Midlothian to deposit money that the south suburb's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2580 had raised during a benefit. He never made it inside. Burtner, 65, was assaulted and robbed outside the bank. He died Wednesday night in Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. An autopsy Thursday concluded Burtner died of hypertensive...

EAST ST. LOUIS — A store clerk in East St. Louis killed robber Larando King, but it was holdup accomplice Michael T. Hunter Jr., who was charged Friday with first-degree murder, officials said. CRIME STATS bullet Get the breaking news from our St. Louis Crime Beat blog bullet See stats around St. Louis and the nation in our searchable database. A person committing a felony can be charged with murder under Illinois law for the death of anyone during the crime. St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida, whose office filed the charge, said in a prepared statement: "I commend...

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics has completed its investigation of Sen. Roland Burris, and his office is trumpeting its finding that he committed no "actionable violations of the law." What his press release didn't mention is that the committee also found he had provided "incorrect, inconsistent, misleading or incomplete information" about his appointment to the Senate. Which is senatorese for, "Pants on fire!"

Could Illinois Senate candidate Patrick Hughes be the next insurgent Republican candidate to get the backing of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)? Hughes is slated for his second meeting with DeMint on Thursday (the two also met in September), and DeMint’s Senate Conservative Fund website is currently polling visitors on whom they support in Hughes’s primary with Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). DeMint has backed former Rep. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Marco Rubio in Florida and Chuck DeVore in California, all in the face of establishment favorites. Toomey, of course, soon assumed that mantle when Sen. Arlen Specter switch to the Democratic...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Oprah Winfrey's expected announcement that she'll end her show -- and the prospect that she'll say goodbye to Chicago – has Mayor Daley placing some blame on the media. Daley said Thursday evening he's going to call Oprah to get the real story. But he's obviously concerned that if she says farewell to this city it'll be a blow to Chicago's image. "I think she was the most successful woman that we will ever know in the history of this country," Daley said at a fundraising event for United Negro College Fund. The mayor says it was...

November 20, 2009 -- Chicago-Rosanna Pulido, staunch defender for unemployed American citizens in her district, expressed outrage this afternoon at Luis Guterriez's Amnesty reform bill, to be introduced some time this month. "With unemployment in Illinois at 10% and rising, our nation's legal law abiding citizens do not need more competition for jobs", Rosanna said. "It is irresponsible public policy". 53 rallies have been held across the country this week protesting the Obama administration's amnesty for undocumented immigrants already living in the United States, along with a promise of tougher enforcement and a streamlined legal immigration system. In other countries,...

Englewood saw two homicides this week, bringing its 2009 murder toll to 17 victims. On Sunday, a 20-year-old man was found shot to death in the 500 block of West 58th Street, according to police information. The next day, a 21-year-old man was shot and killed about four blocks away. This year, Englewood has seen 16 shooting deaths and one fatal beating, a RedEye analysis of preliminary police data found. Fourteen of the 17 victims were male, 14 were under the age of 30 when they died and all victims were black, according to data from the Cook County Medical...

Two people attempted to rob the BFM Market in East St. Louis at 4 am yesterday. An alert employee shot at the robbers, who retreated. One of the wounded robbers was dropped off at the hospital, where he expired of his injuries. The other robber is still at large. Free Republic is banned from posting the original sources.

Wednesday night, scores of people turned up at a town hall meeting in the Village of Barrington Hills, Ill., 40 miles outside of Chicago. Residents are resisting a new lighting ordinance being entertained by the village government. In a bid to win plaudits from the International Dark-Sky Association—which fights outdoor lighting as a blight that blots out the starry splendor of the natural night—local officials want radically to restrict how residents use light on their properties. In response, some 200 people, out of a village of 4,000, have formed a group they call Homeowners Against Lighting Ordinances, or HALO. Barrington...

The plastics industry trade show on Tuesday said it is moving to Orlando, Fla., for 2012 and 2015 after nearly four decades in Chicago. The announcement follows a decision by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society last week to move its 2012 annual meeting to Las Vegas. Both shows cited the high cost of doing business in Chicago. The plastic show's decision to leave is "a very serious loss," Mayor Richard Daley said, calling on unions and others working at the convention center to change fee structures and onerous work rules so Chicago can better compete for major shows....

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

War On Terror: Sen. Dick Durbin calls a plan to transfer 100 Guantanamo detainees to northwest Illinois "a dream come true." It would paint a bull's-eye on America's heartland in time for the 2012 Iowa caucuses. It seems the question of where to put the Guantanamo detainees is being settled as we speak, with liberal Democrats in the very blue state of Illinois welcoming them with open arms and outstretched hands for the federal dollars that will come with them. Federal officials last Friday inspected the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., a town of 500 on the Iowa border,...

A judge on Wednesday handed a six-year jail sentence to a man accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and allegedly swearing allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

(snip) The autopsy showed the single gunshot wound to Scott’s left temple. (Scott was left-handed.) It also showed probable post-mortem wounds to Scott’s chin that were likely suffered after his face-first fall into the Chicago River. And it showed swelling around Scott’s right eye, possibly from skull fractures, sources said. (snip) Because Scott landed in water, some evidence on his body was contaminated. Medical Examiner’s office investigators did not inspect the death scene because police didn’t notify them before Scott’s body was removed from the river, Jones said.

Rosanna Pulido Fires Back At David Ratowitz’s Immigration Proposals Rosanna Pulido: First off, let’s remember how immigration lawyers make their living. When you take it under consideration that David Ratowitz is an immigration lawyer, it’s no wonder that David wants even higher levels of legal immigration and would support legalization of the 12-20 million already here. Actually, what this government needs to do at this moment is suspend ALL UNNECESSARY IMMIGRATION until our economy recovers and the unemployment rate drops to below 5 percent. How can the government continue to bring in 125,000 foreign workers EVERY MONTH when 15 million...

When asked by CNSNews.com what specific part of the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals must purchase health insurance, Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) pointed to the part of the Constitution that he says authorizes the federal government "to provide for the health, welfare and the defense of the country."  In fact, the word "health" appears nowhere in the Constitution. “Well, that’s under certainly the laws of the--protect the health, welfare of the country," said Burris. "That’s under the Constitution. We’re not even dealing with any constitutionality here. Should we move in that direction? What does the Constitution say? To provide for...

There are few organizations in the United States as steeped in tradition as the military. And one of the oldest customs is the giving of "challenge coins," privately made medallions stamped with a unit or service emblem. The ritual reportedly started during World War I, when new aviators were given coins from officers upon joining a squadron. According to one tale, a pilot was saved from execution in France after proving his identity with his coin. In a memorial ceremony this week, President Obama placed the commander in chief's coin in front of the photos of the 13 soldiers slain...

Some folks in this dying Mississippi River town would rather take their chances with suspected terrorists in their backyard than watch their neighbors continue to move away in despair over the lack of jobs. News that the federal government may buy the nearly empty Thomson Correctional Center and use the maximum-security state prison to house Guantanamo Bay detainees has given people in Thomson hope that things might be about to turn around in this woeful town of 450. "This town is slowly but surely dying off, and I mean that literally because the people that are retired are dying off...

Ill. town would rather get Gitmo prisonersBy Deanna Bellandi, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago THOMSON, Ill. – Some folks in this dying Mississippi River town would rather take their chances with suspected terrorists in their backyard than watch their neighbors continue to move away in despair over the lack of jobs. **SNIP** "This town is slowly but surely dying off, and I mean that literally because the people that are retired are dying off and there's no young people coming back in to take their place. There's nothing here to draw them," said Richard Groharing, a 68-year-old retired...

Obama's Democrat allies in Illinois support this decision. Senator Dick Durbin calls it "a dream come true". Meanwhile, Iowa's elected representatives have been completely silent. It is time for Iowa Governor Debt Culver to show some backbone and speak out against this travesty.

King is trying to prevent the transfer of Guantanamo Bay terrorists to a prison near the Iowa-Illinois border. He has asked 1st District Congressman Bruce Braley, whose district is closest to the prison, to join his efforts.

A body tentatively identified as Michael Scott, president of the Chicago Board of Education, was found in the Chicago River near the Merchandise Mart this morning, police sources said. A blue Cadillac registered to Scott, 60, was found parked next to a trash bin yards away from the river. A police spokesman said the identification was preliminary. The Cook County medical examiner's office has not yet positively identified the body. Scott's family, concerned about his whereabouts, had contacted police Sunday night, reporting he was missing.

The Chicago police would say only that authorities had found the body of an adult male about 3:15 a.m. in the area of 350 N. Orleans St., a road near a waterway in Chicago. CNN affiliate WGN-TV, citing unnamed police sources, said Scott's family had reported him missing Sunday evening. WLS-TV also reported that it was Scott's body that emergency crews recovered from the water. A report on the station's Web site did not cite a source but noted that Scott's wife, Diana Palomar, is the station's vice president of community affairs. Scott had been appointed to the Chicago Board...

Security Increased at Indian Nuclear Sites Over Possible Attack Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 SNIPPET: "Security at nuclear power facilities in India has been boosted following indications that the sites might face a terrorism threat, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Aug. 17). New Delhi put its nuclear sites on alert following reports that a U.S. citizen, arrested Oct. 3 in the United States in an unrelated case, had visited Indian states with nuclear facilities, the Press Trust of India reported. "The step is precautionary in nature," said an Indian Home Ministry official. "The states have been asked to increase the vigil...

The body of slain soldier Francheska Velez heads home this morning. Velez was one of the 13 victims from the massacre at Fort Hood, when Maj. Nidal Hasan opened fire in a soldier readiness center at the base. Velez, 21, was pregnant at the time of her death. She had just returned from a tour in Iraq, from which she was released because of her pregnancy. She planned to come home to Chicago to prepare for her child’s birth. But instead of coming home to a celebration, Velez returns to mourners.

A body discovered floating in the Chicago River near Merchandise Mart this morning is believed to be that of Chicago Public Schools Board President Michael Scott, police said. Police have not positively identified the man, but Scott’s Cadillac was found nearby and Scott’s family had reported him missing earlier in the day....

CHICAGO (AP) -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says selling a prison in the state's rural northwest is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create jobs...

SNIPPET: "Mumbai, Nov. 14: David Coleman Headley personally visited every target site of the 26/11 terror strikes last year, carrying out a recce on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a police source said today. Posing as a Jew, he even visited Nariman House, the Jewish Chabad centre, in July 2008. The Mumbai police today carried out raids in Bandra, its adjoining suburb Khar and BPO hub Goregaon in search of Headley’s local acquaintances and contacts. “He (Headley) mapped the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House. We are interrogating (filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s son) Rahul to find out when...

About a year ago, thousands jammed Grant Park in Chicago to celebrate Barack Obama's election to the White House, a communal civic defining moment. But those giddy days are long gone as Democrats in Illinois face the potential of losing the Senate seat President Obama once held next November. * * * Democratic Party leaders in Washington -- and the Obama White House -- failed to recruit a candidate strong enough to scare Rep. Mark Kirk -- the Republicans' best bet -- from the race. The only luck they had was the decision by Sen. Roland Burris -- appointed by...

Mayhem spreads throughout city overnight after meetings to end violence November 15, 2009 7:51 AM After community activists pleaded Saturday for a day without killing, violence erupted throughout the city after the stroke of midnight on Sunday, leaving at least two people dead and several injured. At about 12:06 a.m., Frederick Evans, 20, of the 6800 block of South Ada Street was found shot to death in an alley in the 500 block of West 58th Street. He was shot in his back and chest. Witnesses told police Evans was involved in a dice game shortly before midnight, according to...

Posted: Nov 13, 2009 3:14 PM Updated: Nov 13, 2009 3:15 PM MARION, IL (KFVS) - SNIPPET: "Ali Al-Marri, 43, is serving an eight year sentence for being a so called "sleeper agent." He has admitted to training in Al-Qaeda camps and having contact with the alleged planner of the September 11th attacks."

Despite his recent request for help from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and renouncing his past support of prominent environmental legislation, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk on Wednesday denied he is moving to the right to try to coalesce support in the Feb. 2 primary election. "I think I am who I am," Kirk, a member of the Naval Reserve, told reporters after a Veterans Day ceremony at the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center in Chicago. "I am a social moderate, fiscal conservative. But this is a big race, and we are building a broad coalition, and it...

A near-empty prison in rural Illinois has emerged as "a leading option" to house suspected terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama administration official said Friday. PHOTOS As they work to shutter the controversial detention center, federal officials are talking to Illinois officials about buying the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison about 150 miles west of Chicago. With Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and other key officials warm to the idea of a federal purchase of the prison, federal officials have stepped up investigations into turning Thomson into a super-maximum facility with a unit for former Guantanamo detainees....

Marching to a different drummer who perennially draws dreamers and dissenters to Chicago, the Democratic Socialists of America came to town Friday -- or at least close. Their three-day national convention was held at an Evanston hotel. The faithful still display the passion of predecessors who made Chicago the birthplace of working-class politics. At a time when the word "socialist" has been hurled as an insult at President Barack Obama and some of his policies, these socialists embrace the label and make sure to point out the difference. They wore buttons proclaiming: "Obama's No Socialist But I Am." To them,...

...When it came time to choose specialties in our last year of medical school, most of us thought Kerry would do what every high achiever and even the not-so-high achievers were already doing: line herself up for a coveted spot in one of the prestigious subspecialties, a field like dermatology, orthopedics, plastic surgery or radiology. But Kerry wanted to become a primary care physician. Some of my classmates were incredulous. In their minds, primary care was a backup, something to do if one failed to get into subspecialty training. “Kerry is too smart for primary care,” a friend said to...

Slain Bolingbrook soldier comes home November 13, 2009 By STEFANO ESPOSITO sesposito@suntimes.com Holding American flags, solemn crowds gathered today to pay their respects to U.S. Army Pfc. Michael Pearson — a 22-year-old Bolingbrook resident killed in a mass shooting at Fort Hood last week. Shortly after 10 a.m., a white Learjet carrying Pearson’s body arrived at Chicago’s Midway Airport. A dozen soldiers lined up near 63rd and Long as the Patriot Guard Riders pulled out of the south entrance to the airport. “Amazing Grace” played in the background as Dames Funeral Home’s silver Cadillac hearse carrying Pearson’s flag-draped casket pulled...

Eighth-graders Cassandra and Aliyah Russell of Chicago never imagined they'd be arrested in their school cafeteria, much less for throwing food. Share Police arrest two dozen children at a Chicago school for reckless conduct. But that's just what happened following lunchtime mayhem last Thursday at the Perspectives Charter Middle School, south of Chicago. More than two dozen students, ages 11 to 15, were rounded up by police, arrested and charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct. "They took us to jail, fingerprinted us, mugshotted us, or whatever, all because of a food fight...I was arrested. Handcuffs on," 13-year-old Cassandra told ABC News....

If you think the recession has hit hard where you live, consider the little Northern Illinois town where almost half the working age adults are out of work. It's called Pembroke. Imagine a community so deep in the hole, the government has fired the police force and closed two of three elementary schools. It's happened in Pembroke, a little town of some 3,000 in eastern Kankakee County near the Indiana border. It's a town where these days, many folks don't rebuild after a fire. The charred remains just sit there. Mayor Sam Payton puts it this way: "I'd say we're...

Illinois’s 7th Congressional District has long been represented by an African-American, but there’s now widespread worry in Chicago’s black community that that could soon change. With Democratic Rep. Danny Davis signaling he’s ready to step down from the House after seven terms to run for president of the Cook County Board next year, there’s a real possibility that a non-African-American candidate could win the seat. “I think there is always that concern,” said Richard Boykin, a former Davis chief of staff who is mentioned as a possible contender. “It’s a fear that a lot of people have.” “There’s great concern,”...

SNIPPET: "The Centre has warned the citizens against possible terror attacks in five cities of India, which are expected to take place around the first anniversary of Mumbai terror attacks. "The Intelligence Bureau has received some inputs from state governments that terrorists were trying to infiltrate through the Indian west coast and target vital installations in the country’, revealed a Home Ministry official to a news channel. The state governments have been given the orders for boosting the security in and around railway stations, airports as well as other significant places." SNIPPET: "This Home Ministry alert is based on the...

We know absolutely no one in Bush family circles and have never met former President George W. Bush or his wife Laura. If you have been reading us for any length of time, you know that we used to make fun of “Dubya” nearly every day…parroting the same comedic bits we heard in our Democrat circles, where Bush is still, to this day, lampooned as a chimp, a bumbling idiot, and a poor, clumsy public speaker. Oh, how we RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground...

At a meeting last month, LGBT and immigration activists urged U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez to include protections for same-sex partners in immigration reform legislation he plans to introduce in the House of Representatives. Although no promises were made at the meeting, according to Association of Latino Men for Action ( ALMA ) President Julio Rodriguez, community members plan to "continue to dialogue" with the congressman regarding the issue. Gutierrez represents Illinois' 4th District, which includes portions of Chicago's North and South sides. President Barack Obama signaled his intention to tackle major immigration reform as part of his first-term agenda; as...

Police investigators too educated? November 9, 2009 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter Investigators hired to probe the surging number of allegations of excessive force against Chicago Police officers are too educated to relate to those involved in the shootings, a South Side alderman warned Monday. Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) put the Independent Police Review Authority on notice about its hiring practices as the agency prepared to launch a study to determine the root cause of the 19 percent increase in complaints, most of them since March. “Hiring people with advanced degrees is a wonderful thing in terms of their...

The Mayor of Chicago, whose our city is dealing day in and day out with violent crime, and not long ago lost the 2016 summer olympics bid, says that the recent Fort Hood masacre is to be blamed on guns. Does the Mayor honestly believe that a civilian ban on guns would have stopped this crazy Jihadist. Does the Mayor honestly think that a ban on possession would stop AQ from instructing and recruiting extremists to their cause in this country? It hasn’t stopped the drug lords from tearing up his city. Before you watch the video, read this from...

Federal Bench: Yet another judicial nominee seeks to impose the "empathy" standard on the courts. He thinks judges should base rulings on a plaintiff's status, legislate from the bench and amend the Constitution. Indiana federal judge David Hamilton stands poised to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to assume a seat on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals serving Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. He's a former fundraiser for Acorn and a former leader of the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He is also another in a series of activist judges who believe the U.S. Constitution is not...

On Monday, Chicago Mayor Daley blamed the Ft. Hood Jihad Massacre on America’s love of guns! “Unfortunately, America loves Guns. We love guns to a point where that uh we see devastation on a daily basis. You don’t blame a group.” The Mayor is using a straw-man argument that conveniently provides him with an opportunity to politicize the terrorist attack as part and parcel with America’s love of guns. Mayor Daley, and other politicians, like to blame gun violence on the guns themselves because that is so much easier than admitting any inconvenient (politically incorrect) truths which might be revealed...

Fellow citizens of Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn, legislators: Welcome to yet another public pension fiasco. Yet another festival of denial. Because in one obscure and maddening moment last week, every one of us slipped closer to burying our children and grandchildren -- unless they flee the state -- in still more debt by the billions. The accompanying graphic shows how deep a hole Springfield is excavating for that burial of future generations. At the end of the current fiscal year, by this calculation, the state's unfunded pension liability plus its other pension debt will total some $95 billion. That's north...