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At 8 a.m. Sunday the population of Kinsman, Ill., stood at 109. An hour later it nearly doubled, as upwards of 100 federal agents and police swooped in on the tiny, rural community. And no one seems to know why. The law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, immigration officials and state police, surrounded an Islamic meat plant in Kinsman, cordoning off the area and briefly detaining the plant's handful of employees. The FBI isn't saying much, and the county sheriff is mum too, leaving Kinsman's residents mystified. The bust, in a town that has no local police force, involved dozens...

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Republican Senator John McCain said on Wednesday his party needed a positive agenda to better attract those Americans who are disenchanted with Democratic policies. McCain said he sensed "a lot of anger and a lot of frustration" among Americans over taxpayer-backed bailouts of banks and auto companies while they cope with a persistently high U.S. jobless rate of 9.8 percent and see bank executives get "obscene" bonuses. McCain, who was his party's presidential nominee and lost the 2008 election to Democrat Barack Obama, spoke to a Reuters Summit in a roundtable interview with journalists.

Does anyone know anything about Robert Hughes? Evidently, he is running against Mark Kirkham (RINO) for senator. I am interested in helping conservative candidates and I have been told that Mr. Hughes is very conservative.

Approximately 100 armed federal agents, backed by a helicopter, 50 vehicles and sharpshooters, raided a Muslim meatpacking plant earlier this week but remain silent about the secret operation. Only half a dozen people work at the plant. No one was arrested, but one eyewitness said the huge police force indicates that the raid may involve criminal activity other than hiring illegal immigrants. Terror-related activity has not been ruled, but officials have refused all comment on the case...

Approximately 100 armed federal agents, backed by a helicopter, 50 vehicles and sharpshooters, raided a Muslim meatpacking plant earlier this week but remain silent about the secret operation. Only half a dozen people work at the plant. No one was arrested, but one eyewitness said the huge police force indicates that the raid may involve criminal activity other than hiring illegal immigrants.

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Oct. 19, 2009 – For door gunners and crew chiefs in Company A, 1st Battalion, 106th Aviation Regiment, the longest days are the ones when they don’t fly. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Maass prepares a Black Hawk helicopter for an early morning flight as part of his duty as a member of the “push crew.” U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Neil Gussman   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. This Illinois Army National Guard unit uses a “push crew” to make sure every mission takes off on time and each aircraft gets back to mission-ready...

WASHINGTON (AP) - For Democrats determined to get a health care bill, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris can no longer be ignored. The Illinois Democrat says he'll only vote for a bill to provide health care to millions more Americans as long as it allows the government to sell insurance in competition with private insurers. And he says he won't compromise. That's caught the attention of the very Democratic leaders who tried to keep Burris out of the Senate after he was appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, however, says he feels strongly...

Faced with a $550 million budget deficit, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley today said that all non-union city workers will take nearly five working weeks of unpaid leave next year to save the city money. Daley announced plans Monday to save $114 million by requiring several thousand city mangers to take 24 unpaid days off, eliminating vacant jobs, and cutting expenses like travel and supplies by $20 million. Daley has said he won't support tax increases in these tough financial times to raise more city revenue. The mayor will present his proposed 2010 budget at Wednesday's City Council meeting. His cost-saving...

President Obama has distanced himself from scandal-tainted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But as an Illinois state senator, Obama went to bat for more than a dozen people to get state jobs or promotions in Blagojevich's administration, according to records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. * * * Indeed, in seeking hiring favors from the governor, Obama was doing what many other Democrats were doing at the time, the records show. Obama made his pitch for 16 people, according to the records. Five got hired.

Illinois state Sen. James DeLeo (D-Chicago) -- who has made public statements questioning the existence of the Chicago mob -- was credited by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office with trying to help the widow of one of Chicago's most infamous slain mobsters. The Northwest Side lawmaker is listed in a secret hiring database the then-governor's aides kept as the political sponsor for Anne Spilotro, the widow of murdered mob associate Michael Spilotro. She's among 146 "recommended" job candidates linked to DeLeo by Blagojevich's office, though it isn't clear for what job. Thirty-nine of them wound up being hired or promoted,...

Perry Mandera might not be a well-known name in most circles. But when he tried to get people a job in then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration, it seems his name carried weight, according to records kept by Blagojevich aides. * * * He's the president of a company that owns VIP's A Gentlemen's Club, a topless bar on the Near North Side. The electronic records maintained by Blagojevich's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs -- his patronage office -- between 2003 and 2005 identify Mandera, 52, of Glenview, as the sponsor for nine state job applicants. "I have no knowledge of what you're...

Kenyan-born US Senate hopeful, Barrack Obama, appeared set to take over the Illinois Senate seat after his main rival, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race on Friday night amid a furor over lurid sex club allegations. The allegations that horrified fellow Republicans and caused his once-promising candidacy to implode in four short days have given Obama a clear lead as Republicans struggled to fetch an alternative. Ryan’s campaign began to crumble on Monday following the release of embarrassing records from his divorce. In the records, his ex-wife, Boston Public actress Jeri Ryan, said her former husband took her to...

In an amateur video that's shocking for its violence against a young girl, a House of Blues security guard repeatedly shoved a female concertgoer to the ground and roughed her up -- all because she took a photograph of him, police say. Watch the video Here. Darrell Gibson, 31, of Sauk Village, was arrested for misdemeanor battery. Police would not confirm that Gibson worked for the House of Blues, but a spokesperson for the venue said that "an incident occurred on Monday night outside House of Blues involving an individual and a security guard" and that the venue would "cooperate...

After action report of yesterday's Chicago "Can you hear us NOW?" march on the media. Approximately 100 patriots gathered at 4:00pm outside of ABC news studios on State Street in Chicago. We sang God Bless America, The National Anthem and chanted "report the news" "do your jobs" "can you hear us now?" etc... After about 1/2 hour, we marched on over to CBS News studios. The folks at CBS saw us coming and pulled down the window shades to the studio. LOL, cowards. More chanting commenced. The protest was to last until 6pm, but I left at about 5:30 as...

The search continues for an armed and dangerous man wanted by Rockford police after a pawn shop robbery. The man's accomplice remains in critical condition at a local hospital. "They had a couple down here, a couple in the alley and then they had it guarded off," said Laurie McLain. McLain describes the police presence in her neighborhood about three hours after a crime scene took over the nearby Broadway Joe's Pawn Shop. "It was just a shock. You could just tell there had been some type of violent crime there," McLain said. Rockford firefighters and police responded to Broadway...

The state’s unemployment rate jumped to 10.5 percent in September, the highest level in 26 years, and up from 10 percent in August and from 6.7 percent in September 2008, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said today. The average over the past three months increased .1 percent to 10.3 percent, the highest level since December 1983. The state’s rate continued to exceed the nation’s 9.8 percent rate. The state lost 14,200 jobs during the month, the 20th consecutive monthly loss, and the state’s job total stood at 5,634,700, its lowest level since December 1995, the agency said. Over the...

Foreclosures hit another all-time high in Q3 with almost 938,000 homeowners filing, according to Realty Trac. This rose at a substantial 5% clip from Q2. If you're aren't feeling the pain, perhaps you don't live in one of the six states that accounted for 62% of nationwide foreclosures alone: California - down 1.5% Florida - -0.7% Arizona - +5% Nevada - +9.8% Illinois - +13.7% Michigan - +9.5%

CHICAGO (CBS) ― About one in seven girls at Robeson High School are pregnant. Officials say a variety of factors are to blame. Chicago public school full of energy and spirit. It has about 800 girls, and 115 of them have something in common – something you might find disturbing. All those young ladies are moms or moms-to-be at Paul Robeson High School. It's not a school for young mothers, it's a neighborhood school. And all of the pregnancies have happened, despite prevention talk.

(Video of pregnant girls) All those young ladies are moms or moms-to-be at Paul Robeson High School. It's not a school for young mothers, it's a neighborhood school. And all of the pregnancies have happened, despite prevention talk. If you want to know why, the people closest to the situation say there's no simple explanation. Chicago Public Schools says it does not track the overall number of teen moms in the district. But Robeson Principal Gerald Morrow knows the count at his school in Englewood: 115 young ladies who are expecting. To put it in perspective, their school pictures would...

Obama Appointee Tied to Effort to Unionize Home Health-Care Workers October 15, 2009 The plot thickens -- as in SEIU's pay-to-play plots in state government, including its most recent naked power grab: Its repugnant effort to intervene between children with disabilities and their parents by making home health care workers for disabled children in Illinois a closed shop. In an editorial today on President Obama’s nominee to head the National Labor Relations Board, the Wall Street Journal shines a light on Craig Becker, an associate general counsel at SEIU whose career is traced back to Gov. Rod Blagojevich:One of the...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Springfield Mass Transit District bus driver has received a one-day unpaid suspension for wearing a pink necktie to help raise awareness for breast cancer. The driver, 46-year-old William Jones, had to serve the suspension, but his action led the transit district to agree that employees could wear pink on Fridays October in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Jones, who said he planned to file a formal grievance, said he has had a number of relatives who have battled cancer, including a grandmother, a sister, several cousins and a niece.

The seven-bedroom, three-bath house in this city's West Garfield Park neighborhood had once been someone's American Dream. But at a recent auction of about 100 foreclosed houses and condos, it was just Property No. 20 -- and drawing no bids from a roomful of buyers despite its bargain-basement price. "Any interest in this home at $7,000?" fast-talking auctioneer Renee Jones asked the crowd. "If not, we'll move on."

Are you tired of hearing how “smart” Barack Obama is? I reached my limit over the summer, when The New York Times Magazine quoted Valerie Jarrett, the president’s liaison to Chicago City Hall, declaring, “I mean, he’s really by far smarter than anybody I know.” Well, as any Chicago schoolboy knows, there are many different kinds of smart. And right now our commander-in-chief is not looking particularly brilliant— at least on the level of substantive politics. Take, for example, Obama’s intervention in Chicago’s failed bid for the Olympic Games in 2016. The Daley machine has escorted Obama most of the...

The public is being warned to avoid downtown Chicago expressways after pavement was damaged during construction work on the northbound Kennedy Expressway at Adams Street. "We're advising people to stay off the downtown expressways for the next 24 hours," said Marisa Kollias, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Transportation. "This is a major crisis." Workers were pumping concrete into an underground freight tunnel this morning when "pressure made the road erupt," according to an IDOT dispatcher. Two right lanes of the northbound Kennedy have been closed. It was not known how long the lanes would be shut down. The...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congress has already voted to defund the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, otherwise knows as ACORN, and the IRS and Census Bureau have severed their relationships with the organization as well. However, ACORN, which according to their Web site maintains "more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in about 75 cities," continues to receive taxpayer money through the states. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation's largest non-partisan, individual membership association of state legislators, has identified several states which provide funding for ACORN and its affiliates, including New York ($415,000), Pennsylvania ($205,000), Georgia ($104,000),...

GENEVA – Geneva School Board members voted Tuesday night to issue a warning against a Geneva High School teacher, who a student claimed made a homosexual slur in his classroom last week. The notice against teacher David Burk states that any further improprieties could result in dismissal. Geneva High School senior Jordan Hunter, who is gay and said he was personally offended by the remark, did not think the board's action went far enough. He believed Burk should have been fired. "I'm just disappointed," Hunter said. "I'm shocked, really. This is not an acceptable end result." According to Hunter, Burk...

CTA plan: $3 for train, 25-cent bus fare hike, job losses October 12, 2009 8:38 PM | 281 Comments | UPDATED STORY CTA service would run less frequently and the basic fare would be raised to as much as $3 next year under a dire 2010 budget proposal unveiled today. The CTA workforce would be hit hard as well to ease a projected $300 million budget shortfall. Up to 1,100 union jobs and 100 administrative position are slated for elimination if new public funding and employee concessions fail to occur, transit officials said. "Union employees have been relatively untouched by...

OCTOBER 13, 2009 Slaw and Order: Hot-Dog Stand in Chicago Triggers a Frank Debate 'Felony Franks' Is Staffed by Ex-Cons, but Some Neighbors Don't Relish the Name By JULIE JARGON CHICAGO -- When James Andrews opened a hot-dog stand on this city's rough West Side, he thought he was doing a community service by hiring ex-convicts. But some in the neighborhood think the name he chose -- Felony Franks -- is a crime. An alderman has refused Mr. Andrews permission to hang a new sign or build a drive-through lane. A pastor accused the restaurant owner, who is not an...

Kirk slams Bright Start, but not Giannoulias For weeks, Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias have tried to play over the heads of their opponents in the Feb. 2 primary election for the U.S. Senate, attacking each other rather than engaging the opponents within their own parties.But at a downtown Chicago news conference today, Kirk addressed a controversy involving Giannoulias’ stewardship as state treasurer of the Bright Start college savings program—and appeared to take Giannoulias’ side. [This is an excert from the original article. To see the article in its entirity, click the link the source page]

Another insult to long suffering Chicago Cubs fans. ----- WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Chicago Cubs are seeking Chapter 11 protection, a step that will allow its corporate parent to hand the team to new owners. The team filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Monday. The move was anticipated as the Tribune Co. looks to complete an $845 million sale of the team, Wrigley Field and related properties to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts. Tribune, which also owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy protection in December, but the Cubs were not included in...

Obama Nobel Peace Prize Yes/ No poll at link. In Pres_ent Oblahblah's back yard.

Link to PDF of the decision is attached.

Anti-abortion activists will have to stay at least 8 feet away from people outside medical facilities in Chicago under a measure the City Council approved Wednesday. The so-called bubble zones will exist within 50 feet of the entrances to all health care centers. Those who venture closer to another person without consent could face a fine of $500.

Unbelievable!!! Anderson Cooper gets called out about his misguided and liberal love of government intervention by a young man who recognizes that problems can be solved only when we assume responsibility for them.Video Link

The state of Illinois can’t pay its bills, according to the local CBS affiliate in Chicago. Illinois has a $3 billion cash gap in its budget, and is now pushing vendor payments out to three months on average. One health-care provider that supports at-home care may have to shut its doors and lay off its employees while it waits for almost a million dollars owed by the state: The State of Illinois’ pile of unpaid bills has grown to a record-breaking $3 billion. Comptroller Dan Hynes said Tuesday it’s never before been this bad at this point in any previous...

Community leaders and parents outside Fenger are in disbelief that they are not at the breakfast table with Arne Duncan and Eric Holder. Attorney General Holder and Secretary of Education Duncan are in town to speak, ostensibly, with the community about youth violence -- a blight on Chicago neighborhoods so vividly brought to national attention by the videotaped beating of Derrion Albert. "They are meeting about us without us," said Phillip Jackson of the Black Star Project, a Chicago-based educational reform organization. Duncan and Holder's meeting at the Four Seasons also includes Mayor Daley, Pastor Michael Pfleger, CEO of Chicago...

[This article was syndicated via RSS from Illinois Review. The views represented do not necessarily represent those of the Chicago Daily Observer.] Last week, Illinois Review posted the list of Republicans who've received donations from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) - the organization whose Illinois offices connect directly with the ACORN organization, which was recently dubbed in a U.S. House investigation as a "criminal enterprise." While the money to Republicans was significant, the SEIU largess shown to Democrats is significantly more. The kind of financial support that could give an organization a "controlling stake" in the Democrat Party, so-to-speak....

On Thursday, September 24th, after an apparently productive day at Fengler High School in Chicago, Derrion Albert, a black 16 year old honor student was knocked to the ground by a blow to the head with a railroad tie. He was then punched, kicked and stomped. Those who responded to rescue him were too late. Derrion had walked into the middle of a fight between two rival black gangs. He attempted to help one of the victims in the melee and was killed for his trouble. This took place in Barack Obama's Chicago. All his work for "social justice" did...

The organization that brought you all those banners, ads and fund-raising pitches for the 2016 Olympics in Chicago soon will pay the price for the city's failure to get the games. Chicago 2016, the high-powered civic committee that has worked on the city's bid for three years, is expected to lay off most of its 57 paid staffers by the end of October. A small group is expected to remain through year-end as it winds down operations. In a "stewardship report" issued in late August, the committee disclosed that it has raised $76.9 million from July 2006 through last June...

A group pushing for the state to issue a 'Choose Life' license plate loses its free-speech claim.--- Reporting from Washington - Illinois need not offer "Choose Life" license plates to motorists under a ruling the Supreme Court let stand today. The justices turned down a free-speech claim from Choose Life Illinois Inc., a group that supports adoption and opposes abortion. It had gathered more than 25,000 signatures from persons who wanted a "Choose Life" plate, but the state refused to issue the specialty plate. Officials said the state wanted to take no position on the abortion issue. When the state...

Some Chicago officials say anti-American resentment likely played a role in Chicago's Olympic bid dying in the first round Friday. President Obama could not undo in one year the resentment against America that President Bush and others built up for years, they said. "There must be" resentment against America, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, near the stage where he had hoped to give a victory speech in Daley Center Plaza. "The way we [refused to sign] the Kyoto Treaty, we misled the world into Iraq. The world had a very bad taste in its mouth about us. But there was...

<p>Those who read the New York Times's coverage of the unsuccessful results of Barack and Michelle Obama's attempt to seal the 2016 Summer Olympics bid for Chicago on Friday afternoon ('For Obama, an Unsuccessful Campaign") might want to read it again.</p>

Some Chicago officials say anti-American resentment likely played a role in Chicago's Olympic bid dying in the first round Friday. President Obama could not undo in one year the resentment against America that President Bush and others built up for years, they said. "There must be" resentment against America, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, near the stage where he had hoped to give a victory speech in Daley Center Plaza. "The way we [refused to sign] the Kyoto Treaty, we misled the world into Iraq. The world had a very bad taste in its mouth about us. But there was...

EXCERPT "I believe that [Friday]'s action is just the latest example of the cultural breach that still exists between the United States and several leaders of the global community of nations," Rush said in a statement Friday which was not received by The Hill until Sunday. "[Friday}'s vote by the IOC members reflects the tattered relationships that remain after eight years of the catastrophic reign of the Bush administration," Rush continued. "It will obviously take some time for the Obama administration to continue its important work to repair that breach."

While Michelle Obama fruitlessly pimped (oh ok, shilled, promoted) her corrupt, broke and now nationally known violent, native town, as a site for the 2016 Olympics, for the first time in her life she was seemingly proud of it. Her neighborhood "of working families -- families with modest homes and strong values.Sports were what brought our community together. They strengthen our ties to one another." It was also, and still is, a relatively high crime neighborhood. It is a testimony to Michelle and her parents that she emerged relatively unscathed except with a huge, but somewhat understandable, chip on her...

CHICAGO – The funeral of a Chicago teen who was beaten to death on his way home from school drew civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan on Saturday, both calling for an end to youth violence. Farrakhan said he came to the funeral because he was "deeply pained" by the death of 16-year-old honor roll student Derrion Albert. The boy was walking to a bus stop after school when a group of teens attacked him during a street fight late last month. "Naturally, we wonder why such a beautiful life? Such a...

Barack Obama’s schools chief tries to incite dramatic reform that will last. Mr Duncan, the former chief of Chicago’s schools, finds himself in an unprecedented position. No education secretary has ever had so much money to drive reform. Thanks largely to the federal stimulus, he has more than $10 billion, including $3.5 billion to turn around schools. More than $4 billion will go to states that pursue specific initiatives: final guidelines for applications will be issued this autumn, and states are scurrying to prepare. Mr Duncan calls the money a “moon shot”—for his department and for the country. With his...

Mayor Richard Daley and his supporters hyped the 2016 Olympic bid as Chicago's best hope for a sorely needed economic boost, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to raise the city's global profile and even a way to help keep more kids from dropping out of school. "The next five years, six years, tell me one thing that is going to have economic opportunities for any city," Daley had said in July, when asked about criticism of his Olympic dream. "If you have something better, I'd love to see it." But Daley headed home from Denmark on Saturday without a trump card. He...

When government officials play the Olympic lottery, taxpayers lose. That has been the disastrous experience of host cities around the world. (Forbes magazine even dubbed the post-Olympic financial burden the “Host City Curse.”) So, why are President Obama and his White House entourage headed to Copenhagen, Denmark, this week to push a fiscally doomed Chicago 2016 bid? Political payback. Bringing the games to the Windy City is Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s “vision.” The entrenched Democratic powerbroker—in office since 1989 -- would like to cap off his graft-haunted tenure with a glorious $4 billion bread-and-circuses production. The influential Daley machine...