GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - June 28, 2008

ASSOCIATED PRESS
-- Illinois urged to get out of death-penalty limbo - Nguyen Huy Vu
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gja3D19Pj1Fgl_887NDy3u1C8-4wD91J1FQ00

DAILY HERALD
-- FRONT PAGE IN DUPAGE EDITION WITH COLOR PHOTO OF MCCULLOCH: DuPage political consultant Rod McCulloch gets probation, community service in election fraud case - Jim Fuller
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=213059
-- State Representative Mike Fortner honored by the Metro West Council of Government, a group he helped found - Jack Komperda
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=213154&src=5
-- Government gridlock is fine in Illinois - Jacksonville Journal-Courier
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=213029&src=
-- Death penalty fate still undecided - AP
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=213292&src=109
-- Poverty doesn't justify abortion - C. E. Glomski, Elk Grove Village
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=212671&src=

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
-- Consultant Rod McCulloch gets probation for fake petition signatures Rips Birkett's prosecution case as 'politically motivated' - Dan Rozek
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1029851,CST-NWS-fraud28.article
-- No time for Obama to play it safe - Carol Marin
http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/1029880,CST-EDT-carol29.article
-- Enforcement of immigration law is good news for low-skilled Americans - David Francis
(Not posted as of 6:00 AM)

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
-- Ex-political aide Rod McCulloch gets 2 years' probation for election fraud in Milton Township
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-mcculloch-both-jun28,0,555571.story
-- OUTSTANDING: National Rifle Association sues Chicago, Evanston, Morton Grove, and Oak Park to repeal their firearms bans - Azam Ahmed
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-nra-gun-suits-both-jun28,0,5491548.story
-- 11th Congressional District: Supreme Court ruling unlikely to change Ozinga's money plans - Erika Slife
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2008/06/supreme-court-r.html
-- Obama's success fuels (RACE AND GENDER BASED PREFERENCE GIVING) foes - Charles Babington
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-obama-affirmativeacti,0,7252949.story

CBS2
-- Where Does Obama Stand On Second Amendment? - Mike Flannery
http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/obama.second.amendment.2.759054.html (Includes video clip)

LAKE COUNTY NEWS SUN
-- OUTSTANDING: ICE arrests 43 illegals - Ryan Pagelow
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1029174,5_1_WA28_ICE_S1.article

COURIER NEWS
-- Understanding the campaign cash ruling Foster and Oberweis try to grasp what it means for them - Dan Campana
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/1029748,3_1_EL28_A3FINANCE_S1.article

HERALD NEWS
-- "Illinois casino revenues have dropped sharply. A state smoking ban and a weaker economy getting the blame."
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/1029635,4_1_JO28_JOLIETBUDGET_S1.article

CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: VERY SAD BUT NOT SURPRISING: Second Amendment: Hinz blasts Scalia and praises Daley
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=29994

OTTAWA TIMES
-- State Senator Frank Watson tells how tables turned on governor - Charles Stanley
http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=362404

ILLINOIS REVIEW
-- 96th House District: Senger endorsed by Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/senger-endorsed.html
-- Tell the Chicago Police to enforce the law (RE: Gay Pride Parade) - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/tell-the-chicag.html
-- Registering illegals to vote? - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/registering-ill.html

PUBLIC AFFAIRS
-- A 13th CD Harper-Biggert virtual debate on the War - Jeff Berkowitz
http://jeffberkowitz.blogspot.com/2008/06/better-than-brokaw-hosting-meet-press.html

TEXAS OBSERVER
-- Texas Republicans sport stiff upper lips at their state convention - Dave Mann and Forrest Wilder
http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2795

WASHINGTON POST
-- An Attack That Came Out of the Ether Scholar Looks for First Link in E-Mail Chain About Obama - Matthew Mosk
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703781.html?hpid=topnews
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Allen discovered that theories about Obama's religious background had circulated for many years on the Internet. And that the man who takes credit for posting the first article to assert that the Illinois senator was a Muslim is Andy Martin. Martin, a former political opponent of Obama's, is the publisher of an Internet newspaper who sends e-mails to his mailing list almost daily. He said in an interview that he first began questioning Obama's religious background after hearing his famous keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In an Aug. 10, 2004, article, which he posted on Web sites and e-mailed to bloggers, he said that Obama had concealed his Muslim heritage. "I feel sad having to expose Barack Obama," Martin wrote in an accompanying press release, "but the man is a complete fraud. The truth is going to surprise, and disappoint, and outrage many people who were drawn to him. He has lied to the American people, and he has sought to misrepresent his own heritage." Martin's article did not suggest an association between Obama and radical Islam. Martin was trying to launch a Senate bid against Obama when he says he first ran the Democrat's name by a contact in London. "They said he must be a Muslim. That was interesting to me because it was an angle that nobody had covered. We started looking. As a candidate you learn how to harness the Internet. You end up really learning how to work the street. I sort of picked this story up as a sideline." Martin said the primary basis for his belief was simple -- Obama's father was a Muslim. In a defamation lawsuit he filed against the New York Times and others several months ago, Martin says that Obama "eventually became a Christian" but that "as a matter of Islamic law began life as a Muslim" due to his father's religion. The belief that Obama unavoidably inherited his religion was not uniquely Martin's -- as recently as May, it was proffered by Edward N. Luttwak, a fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, in a New York Times op-ed piece.)
-- Tancredo Questions McCain - Jonathan Weisman
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/24/tancredo_questions_mccain.html?tid=informbox
(THE ARTICLE: He may be the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, but John McCain has yet to heal all the wounds on his right flank. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a failed presidential rival of McCain's and an anti-illegal immigration gadfly, launched into the senator from Arizona for meeting in secret with Latino leaders last week in Chicago. One participant in the meeting emerged to criticize McCain for taking a tougher stand on illegal immigration on the campaign trail than the line he allegedly used behind closed doors. Now, Tancredo is taking up the cudgel in an open letter to his party's presumptive nominee. "Recently in Chicago, you had a closed door meeting with a group of Hispanic leaders," he wrote. "Strangely, the closed door meeting was not on your official events calendar, no press was invited and no press release appears to have been issued. Yet, according to several news reports, you promised the group that you plan to pursue 'comprehensive immigration reform.' Senator, given your past sponsorship of amnesty legislation, such statements raise troubling questions. Are you planning to break a promise you made in February to postpone all other immigration reform legislation until we have first secured our borders?" Ahead of a scheduled McCain appearance in July before the National Council of La Raza, Tancredo warned, "I challenge you to deliver a message to that assembly which does not pander to their amnesty agenda. You should speak to the La Raza convention and to all Hispanic audiences about America's need for secure borders as a priority above all other immigration reforms. Moreover, I hope you take that opportunity to make it clear that it is in the long term interest of Mexico and other Latin American nations to halt the massive out-migration of their citizens." McCain has promised Republican lawmakers and activists that he will set aside his push to grant illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship, at least until he can certify that the U.S. borders have been closed to illegal immigration. At the same time, he has tried to win back support from Hispanic voters who have fled the GOP since the party took up the immigration issue fervently in 2005.)

MSNBC
-- Veepstakes: Lieberman brings up Wright - Mark Murray
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/27/1171692.aspx

HOUSTON CHRONICLE
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: VERY SAD: Liberals want amnesty, want more guest worker programs, want more mass immigration, and want more homosexual activity. Conservatives oppose amnesty, oppose more guest worker programs, oppose more mass immigration, and oppose more homosexual activity. Those who want amnesty, who want more guest worker programs, who want more mass immigration, and who want more homosexual activity are going to vote for Obama, not for McCain. The more that McCain hints that he might be for amnesty, for more guest worker programs, for more mass immigration, or for more homosexual activity, the fewer votes that McCain will get. Therefore, those who want McCain to be for amnesty, for more guest worker programs, for more mass immigration, or for more homosexual activity want Obama to win and want McCain to lose.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5861334.html

ALTER NET
-- Immigration Hard-Liners and John McCain: Strange Bedfellows or Forever Star-Crossed? - Jordan Smith
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/89755/?ses=aa31c59ca344da065e31de7297131d6a

VILLAGE VOICE
-- VERY SAD: Michelle Obama Woos Gay Democrats in Midtown - Julie Bolcer
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/06/michelle_obama_1.php

CORVETTE QUARTERLY-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: Past/present Corvette owners include Joe Biden, Barry Goldwater, John McCain, Colin Powell, and Clarence Thomas. Diersen, who has owned a 1972 Corvette since 1971 and a 2005 Corvette since 2005, urges all Republicans, especially Republican candidates, Republican elected officials, and Republican party leaders, to own and drive American nameplate vehicles.www.gopillinois.com (Files page)

CBS NEWS
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: Sadly, Politico ridicules Congressman Shimkus for honoring Corvettes and therefore, sadly, Politico ridicules all past, present, and future Corvette owners. Sadly, Politico argues that Corvettes are not important because the are "truly a symbol of American pride," but instead, because they "help you get chicks" and because they look "really cool." The vehicle you drive says a lot about you. Who you ridicule and what you ridicule says a lot about you. Because Corvettes symbolize what is best about America's automotive industry, to ridicule those who honor Corvettes is to ridicule America's automotive industry.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/27/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4215883.shtml

GOPUSA ILLINOIS
-- New GOPUSA ILLINOIS poll: Why do you read GOPUSA ILLINOIS daily emails? You want information that helps you:
http://www.gopusa.com/illinois/poll.shtml
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-- Only 6 more days until Wheaton's Independence Day parade Republican participants include: Birkett, Bucholz, Eckhoff, Fortner, Hultgren, Kachiroubas, Olson, McBride, Milton Township Republicans, Muehlfelt, Sauerberg, and Roskam - Dave Diersen
http://www.wheatonjaycees.org/fourth/2008/index2.html
Please plan on coming to Wheaton on July 4 and watching its Independence Day parade. So far, Republicans Joe Birkett, Fred Bucholz, Grant Eckhoff, Mike Fortner, Randy Hultgren, Chris Kachiroubas, Debra Olson, J.R. McBride, Milton Township Republicans, Gary Muehlfelt, Steve Sauerberg, and Peter Roskam have registered to participate. Many thanks to Joe Birkett, David Carlin, Roger Claar, Kirk Dillard, Grant Eckhoff, Mike Fortner, Gwen Henry, Randy Hultgren, Gary King, J.R. McBride, Debra Olson, and Phil Suess for sponsoring the Chicago Highlanders. Many thanks to Mary Jo Arndt, Michael Connelly, Bob Larsen, Darlene Ruscitti, Tim Whelan, and John Zaruba for sponsoring Cub Scout Pack 64. Many thanks to All Star Printing for printing parade flyers.