Congressmen seek Asian carp funds

By Rachel Wells

As a lawsuit seeking to close two Chicago navigational locks remains under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, Great Lakes leaders on Wednesday agreed to seek $20 million for an Asian carp management and control plan.

According to Christina Mulka, press secretary for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, congressmen are seeking the money to study target specific poisons, advocate increased Asian carp commercial fishing and research pheromones and other technology that would lure the overbearing fish away from Lake Michigan.

Lawmakers have not proposed a specific source for the funding. The money could come from the $475 million in federal funds already appropriated for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a regional approach to invasive species and pollution, said Mulka.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' work in containing Asian carp includes the construction of underwater electric barriers. Since 1998, $41.2 million in federal funding has gone toward the barrier project. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has also spent $700,000 to kill Asian carp during barrier maintenance, according to news releases from Durbin's office.

"We're looking for a solution outside of the courtroom," Mulka said. With support from several other Great Lakes states, Michigan filed suit in December asking the Supreme Court to close two Chicago navigational locks to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan.

U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert also hosted today's meeting of Great Lakes leaders. Phone calls placed to Michigan legislators, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, were not immediately returned. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox also could not be reached for comment.

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He's not budging

by Jamey Dunn
U.S. Sen. Roland Burris ignored U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s call to resign. Durbin says that Burris told him today that he had no plans to resign, and he has not decided whether he will make a bid for the seat in 2010.

Durbin said that he advised Burris to resign because of the controversy surrounding his appointment to the U.S. Senate, and he added that Burris should have “volunteered” information about his fundraising attempts for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich when he testified before the House investigations committee in January. Burris filed an additional affidavit earlier this month that explained some — but not all — of his contacts with Blagojevich advisers prior to his appointment.

“We certainly had asked for more and hoped for more, and we didn’t receive it,” Durbin said.

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Should Ryan serve less time than Scott Fawell?

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Feds say Ryan sentence should exceed Fawell's
Former gov's lawyers battle for short stay

If George Ryan's onetime chief of staff Scott Fawell is serving 6½ years in prison, shouldn't the former governor do more time?

That's at least one of the arguments prosecutors will advance in what's expected to be a highly charged sentencing hearing Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer....

...."It would create an unreasonable sentencing disparity if Ryan, an elected constitutional officer holding the highest office in the state, received a lesser sentence than the 78-month sentence imposed by this Court on his right-hand man, Scott Fawell, who typically acted at Ryan's direction," prosecutors wrote in a filing last week.

Those were the arguments prosecutors made two years ago during Ryan's sentencing, and they are still important points today. What will it do to future public corruption investigations in Illinois if the Little Fish ends up serving more time than the Big Fish in the biggest public corruption trial in recent history? Granted, the Big Fish in this case has grey hair, but don't they usually?

According to the Chicago Tribune, Fawell served more than four years of his 6 1/2 month sentence, which was reduced by only four months for testifying against his old boss.

So now, I'll ask the question again that federal prosecutors asked two years ago: Shouldn't George Ryan serve more time than Scott Fawell?

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Mike Robinson writes: Durbin: Keep Fitzgerald as U.S. attorney

Guess this is what happens to the Gov when he doesn't return Durbin's phone calls. From Mike Robinson at the AP,

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Friday that he will recommend another term for corruption-busting federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald if he wants to stay on as Chicago’s U.S. attorney.

Durbin told a news conference that he first wants to sit down with Fitzgerald and ask him what he wants to do. Asked if he would recommend that President-elect Barack Obama renominate Fitzgerald, Durbin said: “Yes.”

“I think he has done an extraordinary job as U.S. attorney; I have the greatest confidence in him,” Durbin said. “I want to do what he wants to do, I want to support what he wants to do, and I won’t presume what that is.”

That'll be an interesting one-on-one.

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Attention Caputo's Shoppers: the ethanol boom

A sign at the Caputo's in South Elgin.

Ought to have copy to Durbin and Obama's letter on keeping out Brazilian ethanol.

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Strassel in WSJ: Dick Durbin and the Chicago Boys

Kimberley Strassel on Durbin carrying water for his oil-speculating-patrons (Rahm's too) over at the Mercantile Exchange: Dick Durbin and the Chicago Boys

...under the Durbin strategy, they [Democrats]can continue the sham of getting tough on speculators, all the while knowing he will see to it they aren't allowed to wantonly destroy U.S. financial markets. As a bonus, Mr. Durbin can privately take credit for rescuing his hometown industry, sucking up its support and donations for his re-election bid this fall. The only losers are voters, who've yet to be let in on the joke of this "speculation" farce.

Where are the radicals when you need 'em? Tell the Doc his heart is in the right place been when you're dealing with the magnates of speculation a candidates gotta play a little tougher. When the progressives are in bed with high-finance it's time to play a populist card yourself. When you're as far behind as Sauerberg there's no risk throwing some rocks at windows around LaSalle street, the combine be damned. Then consider throwing a few around Decatur at Durbin's friends in Agri Biz on that 54 cent-per-gallon on imported ethanol

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Durbin to appear at Morgenthaler fundraiser

How does Durbin square his past words with a fundraiser for the PAO during the debacle with Abu Garib? This is a bit much for Democrats to expect the public to swallow.

Update: Recall Colonel Morgenthaler on Abu Garbi,

Figen shared with me what it was like to spend 7 months under Iraqi occupation. As she told me the horrors of living in Kuwait under the occupation, I realized that if we had not had the first war, Saddam may have been impossible to stop with the oil under his total control. The men who did terrible things to the Kuwaitis, especially the Kuwaiti women are very similar to the men we are fighting. As people get upset about Abu Ghraib, one thing that should never be forgotten: these are men who have murdered Americans and would continue to murder Americans if given the opportunity.

The truely appalling thing for a PAO is she never wrote in her blog that it was American soldiers who blew the whistle on Abu Ghraib (I've often listed the cite for these heros from the Taguba Report). That an American Army started the investigation on its own troops who abused prisoners regardless that those prisoners may have murdered Americans, and maybe would continue to murder Americans if given the opportunity.

Not many Army's do that, and if ours had managed this episode better, it might not have cost the United States so. This PA disaster was really a bitter defeat (fueled by Durbin's poor choice of words I'll leave you all to google for yourselves) for the United States and the US Army.

(It would be nice if Morgenthaler mentioned the great work going on now with MG Stone and Task Force 134 in Iraq to make sure Abu Ghraibs never happen again.)

The Morgenthaler fundraiser e-mail in full below,

Please join Senator Dick Durbin and IL-6th Congressional District Labor, Democrats and Friends For a Grassroots Fundraiser and Rally In support of Democratic Candidate for US House of Representative Sixth District of Illinois

Labor Hosts
American Federation of Government Employees • Bakery Confectionery Tobacco and Grain Millers Local 1
Heat & Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers Local 17 • International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 9
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 21 • International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 134
IL Postal Workers Union • International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers District Council #1
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 30 • National Association of Letter Carriers - Branch 825
Plumbers & Pipefitters 501 • Sheet Metal Workers Local 73 • Sheet Metal Workers Local 265
Transport Workers Union Local 512 • UAW • Western Suburban Teachers Union Local 571 (IFT-AFT)

Democrat & Friend Hosts
DuPage County Democrats • Addison Township Democratic Organization
Bloomingdale Township Democratic Organization • Democratic Women of DuPage County
• Elk Grove Township Democratic Committee •
Hanover Township Democrats and Independents • Maine Township Regular Democratic Organization
Schaumburg Township Democratic Committee • York Township Democratic Organization
Democratic Party of Wayne Township • Winfield Township Democratic Organization
and
Bob Peickert – Chair, DuPage County Democrats

*Host Committee in formation

Friday June 20, 2008
5:15 – 6:00 Host Event
5:30 – 7:00 Grassroots Fundraiser & Rally

Sheet Metal Workers Local 265
205 Alexandra Way
Carol Stream, IL 60188

Host Event Levels
PAC - $1,000, $2,500 $5,000
Individual - $250, $500, $1,000

Grassroots Fundraiser & Rally
$30 Suggested Contribution
$15 suggested for labor members
*Kids Free!


Let us know you are coming! RSVP at RSVP@Jillmorgenthaler.com

For more information or to reserve your spot at the Host Reception please call Stacy at 630-980-1100

xp Bill Baar's West Side

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Bill Foster befuddled by Gas Prices

Foster quoted from Kane County Chronicle's Foster, Durbin cry foul over gas prices

The lawmakers said they supported stepping up efforts in Congress and by the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether fuel suppliers are “gouging” customers or colluding to fix prices artificially high.

Foster noted that while crude oil – the raw material needed to create gasoline, diesel and other forms of fuel – costs more than ever, the companies that manufacture the fuel are reporting record profits.

“As a businessman, this mystifies me,” Foster said.

He said this mystery furthers his suspicion that the marketplace for petroleum and its byproducts is not functioning.

Restore the market, he said, and prices should drop.

Foster should start demystifying the market by checking Durbin's Website for the joint letter signed by Durbin and Obama protesting cheap ethanol from Brazil. Then Foster should have paid attention to Conoco Phillips's VP John Lowe as quoted by Miss Kelly blog,

The executive vp of Conoco Phillips John Lowe advanced some novel (sic) ideas for Congress to consider in addition to lifting the ban on drilling, like how about adopting a balanced energy policy? Do more to encourage alternative energy sources (offshore wind farms, for example), promote energy conservation, cut regulations that are preventing the construction of refineries -- and, oh yes, remove the tariff on ethanol. Congress slapped a 54 cents-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol, thus blocking the import of low price ethanol from Brazil that would help lower gas prices for America’s beleaguered drivers. Dropping the tariff is one action that could provide some near-term relief.

To end this courageous presentation by the energy companies, ConocoPhillips’ Lowe calmly concluded, "U.S. oil companies should be viewed not as scapegoats, but as assets. We must work together to find a real solution."

American industry as an asset for the American People a notion beyond Scientist and Businessman Foster.

He's just another Illinois Rezko-Democrat milking the politics while the citzens of Illinois get milked for the ethanol lobby.

Ken Silverstein back in Harpers in 2006, Barack Obama Inc.:
The birth of a Washington machine

And indeed Obama has delivered for his constituents—for social activists, but also for business groups whose demands are invariably more costly. Although this is not the place to review the full history of ethanol, it’s beyond dispute that it survives only because members of Congress from farm states, whether liberal or conservative, have for decades managed to win billions of dollars in federal subsidies to underwrite its production. It is not, of course, family farmers who primarily benefit from the program but rather the agribusiness giants such as Illinois-based Aventine Renewable Energy and Archer Daniels Midland (for which ethanol accounts for just 5 percent of its sales but an estimated 23 percent of its profits). Ethanol production, as Tad Patzek of UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering wrote in a report this year, is based on “the massive transfer of money from the collective pocket of the U.S. taxpayers to the transnational agricultural cartel.”

That should clear the mystry for you Bill. If Congress will only restore the market prices will drop.

Update: In response to anon's comment, I won't be able to cast a protest vote either: Three Green Party candidates removed from ballot

Patrick Kelly, Illinois Green Party media committee chairman, said: "We've come to expect this type of thing from the Democrats who, despite their names, are out to end democracy in Illinois. They'll never stop until they can win every election without competition, apparently."

Candidates remaining on the ballot for the districts in question are Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean and Republican challenger Steve Greenberg in the 8th; Republican incumbent Mark Kirk and Democratic challenger Dan Seals in the 10th; and Democratic incumbent Bill Foster and GOP challenger Jim Oberweis in the 14th.

I remember George Meany on Face the Nation saying this: Labor Decides to Mugwump It,

In a tone as matter-of-fact as if he were discussing the pros and cons of a pipe fitting, the onetime plumber said he doubted that "McGovern is good material. We don't think he would be in the best interest of labor. My interests would be if we could find some way to defeat both of them." He reminisced about the perennial Socialist candidate for the presidency who died in 1968: "If only Norman Thomas were alive today."

I feel like Mugwumping a Foster Oberweis contest too but I just know some good people who risked it all so I could vote.

Stay tuned... I'll commit later.



xp Bill Baar's West Side

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Want a friend in Illinois buy a dog

Geez, Obama bails out on his Church and Pastor, Durbin bails on Blagojevich... what profiles in courage our Senators.

An Illinois GOP Press Release... and he holds up George Ryan?

Senator says he has been troubled by Blagojevich allies currently facing legal battles


By David Mendell
Chicago Tribune reporter
May 30, 2008

Illinois' senior Democratic senator said Friday he had a much better working relationship with former Republican Gov. George Ryan than Democratic successor Rod Blagojevich.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, during a wide-ranging interview with the Tribune editorial board, also said he was "troubled" by some of Blagojevich's early appointments. Some of those appointees, Durbin noted, played prominent roles at the public corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former top fundraiser for Blagojevich.

"You may assume—and it's natural that you would —that there's a closer working relationship with the governor and senator than there actually is. There isn't much," Durbin said, adding he's talked privately with Blagojevich only a handful of times since Blagojevich took office in 2003.

Durbin said he was particularly troubled by the appointment of Republican fundraiser Stuart Levine, who later pleaded guilty in a political corruption case. Durbin, who is running for re-election this fall, said he has never been close to Levine, though he acknowledged Levine gave $1,000 to his campaign fund in 2000.

"What's happened here was fairly obvious to a lot of us on the outside," Durbin said of the federal investigations of the Blagojevich administration.

Asked whether he should have registered his unease to Blagojevich about appointees like Levine, Durbin said, "When it comes to dealing with the state and all of the decisions involved in it, there's just so much I can do, to be honest with you."

Durbin's comments came as Steve Sauerberg, the senator's GOP challenger, has sought to link the senator to the beleaguered Blagojevich. "Dick Durbin's statement about his limited contacts with the governor is either an opportunistic lie or—if it's true—represents a total abdication of responsibility on behalf of the senior senator from Illinois," Sauerberg said in a statement.

As for how Ryan compares to Blagojevich, Durbin said he regularly received phone calls from Ryan as late as midnight to discuss public business. That never happens with Blagojevich, he said.

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Bringing the pork home to the Land of Lincoln

A press release from U.S. Rep Ray LaHood's office, via the Illinois Channel:

WASHINGTON, DC (April 30)—By a vote of 291-117, the U.S. House last night approved legislation authored by Congressman Ray LaHood (R-Peoria) which would establish the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area in Illinois. LaHood represents the same 11 counties which Abraham Lincoln represented for one term in the U.S. House. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced and guided the legislation in the U.S. Senate, which approved the bill on April 10. The legislation was contained in the Consolidated Natural Resources Act, a comprehensive public lands bill (S. 2739). The bill now heads to the White House for an expected signature from President Bush.

LaHood’s legislation grew out of an idea from the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, a Springfield-based group which has led efforts to create this Heritage Area. The legislation provides for up to $15 million in federal funds over 15 years to make grants available to assist with preservation and education of the Lincoln story at sites and communities throughout the area. The National Heritage Area encompasses 42 counties across the middle section of Illinois, from the Mississippi River in Western Illinois east to the Indiana border.

You know, $15 million here, $15 million there and pretty soon it ads up to a real money.

My question is this: Where do these "sites and communities" get their funding now? Are we going to be generating new "Lincoln sites"? And what does this have to do with natural resources? When I think of natural resources, I'm thinking of rivers and trees.

I Googled the Looking for Lincoln group and found the site. All it does is promote tours of various sites in four Illinois communities. Shouldn't the funds for this come from where ever the Hell Congress usually funds local tourism efforts? At least here in Peoria, we tax our own poor people to pay for our futile tourism programs.

Feh. If this was a City of Peoria budget item, we'd be grumbling about how many sidewalks we could use this money on instead. But I can't really blame LaHood or Durbin since they are giving Illinoisans what they want: A piece of the pork pie.

Cross posted to Peoria Pundit.

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Durbin's Morgenthaler endorsement

An email from her campaign,

New Endorsements With just one week to go before Illinois voters head to the polls, United States Senator Dick Durbin has endorsed Jill Morgenthaler for Congress in Illinois ’ 6th District.

Senator Durbin said:

“ Jill Morgenthaler is a mom and a patriot who served her country for 30 years in the armed forces with tours in Iraq, Bosnia, Germany and Korea .

"Over the last few years, running Illinois ’ homeland security department, Jill’s made our state safer with innovation and a can-do attitude.

Jill’s combination of commonsense Illinois values and homeland security experience make her just the right person to represent the 6th district. I lend her my support in the Democratic primary, and I look forward to helping her win in November.”

Jill has also been endorsed by the Pioneer Press, Daily Herald, Sun Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

How Durbin and Morganthaler square their words will be something Roskam should ask.

Colonel Morganthaler,

Figen shared with me what it was like to spend 7 months under Iraqi occupation. As she told me the horrors of living in Kuwait under the occupation, I realized that if we had not had the first war, Saddam may have been impossible to stop with the oil under his total control. The men who did terrible things to the Kuwaitis, especially the Kuwaiti women are very similar to the men we are fighting. As people get upset about Abu Ghraib, one thing that should never be forgotten: these are men who have murdered Americans and would continue to murder Americans if given the opportunity.

Sen Durbin, (PDF file)

When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here -- I almost hesitate to put them in the record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:

On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold....

On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

I'd like to know if those abused at Abu Garib murdered Americans as Morganther said, if she believes they would continue, and if so, does she think Durbin ought never forget?

Update: Colonel Morgenthaler from today's Trib.

Morgenthaler does not support a pullout of troops and said she believes it is likely the U.S. will have to maintain a presence of 30,000 troops because of its national interests in the region. The surge is working, she said.

“What the surge is not capable of is bringing the political solutions to Iraq. I don’t know if democracy is exportable. I think it has to be homegrown,” she said.

She's a Democrat I could support. If Durbin agrees, he should say so.

Now, I wish she'd express some regret on the those Abu Garib comments and instead quote the Taguba report on the real heros from that sad public-relations defeat,

4. (U) The individual Soldiers and Sailors that we observed and believe should be favorably noted include:

a. (U) Master-at-Arms First Class William J. Kimbro, US Navy Dog Handler, knew his duties and refused to participate in improper interrogations despite significant pressure from the MI personnel at Abu Ghraib.

b. (U) SPC Joseph M. Darby, 372nd MP Company discovered evidence of abuse and turned it over to military law enforcement.

c. (U) 1LT David O. Sutton, 229th MP Company, took immediate action and stopped an abuse, then reported the incident to the chain of command.

I don't think you'll find soldiers like this in any other Army in the world.

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J B Powers on Stroger Hospital

Powers knocks MSM save the Daily Herald for not covering the proposed board for Stroger Hospital.

Perhaps overwhelmed by promotion of winning a date with Drew Peterson (Chicago Tribune), or championing the ”Midwest Teen Sex Show” (Sun-Times), our two leading print newspapers neglected to report the overhaul at Cook County Hospitals.

It is not all that shocking for the Trib and Sun-Times just to ignore an entire story; it is another matter entirely when they have covered a story thoroughly, then just stop. What it is about the biggest story in the County that would want to make our newspapers keep it under wraps? My suspicion is that Todd Stroger performing like a responsible manager and sensible politician does not fit the resume that has been concocted for him by the press, so the story was just stifled, until there is some unflattering detail to publish.

Ouch... JP, I linked the Herald story here. While it may be a good management move on Todd Stroger's part, it does look like a sole source deal with Rush (which maybe should have been the deal to make before building the new hospital).

This intervention by a US Senator and a Hospital Exec is going to be an interesting thing to watch.... Suggestions for the board would be forwarded to Stroger by a county health care group assembled by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and led by RUSH University Medical Center President Larry Goodman.

Durbin sure not a Cook County resident. Not certain about Goodman. So those elected by Cook County Residents can't govern a key County institution? If so, what qualifies this pair to do better?

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Liberals laud book by ex-con husband of Jan Schakowsky

This delicious morsel came to me via e-mail from a great American who prefers to remain anonymous.

Robert Creamer, not to be confused with the famed baseball writer, is now also going by the name of Bob, which I'm sure greatly pleases the more famous Creamer.

About Creamer the Lesser: For many years, he was the executive director of the Illinois Public Action Council. His wife, Jan Schakowsky, now a Democratic Illinois congresswoman who nominally represents me in Washington, was on the board of directors of the self-appointed consumer advocacy group. Creamer got caught kiting checks while running the group--he had done it before and was warned by federal authorities not to do it again. He didn't listen, and got nabbed by the Feds again, which got him a trip to a Federal Prison Camp for five months last year.

Rep. Schakowsky has not been accused of any wrong doing.

Click here for a good explanation of how check-kiting works, and how it undermines the integrity of our financical system.

Creamer has written a book, Listen to Your Mother. Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win. Amazon lists it under "Robert Creamer," but the promotional hoopla mostly refers to him as "Bob."

Hey, I have no problem with an ex-con writing a book or trying to make a living. But I find it quite humorous that a whole bunch of big-time liberals, such as Sen. Dick Durbin, Jim Hightower, Rep. Jim McGovern, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, and a whole bunch of others fawn over Creamer in their endorsements of his book--and none of them mention his five months in prison last year, nor is that part of his life included in the summary of his public life below.

About those five months in the joint. Federal prosecutors had asked for a three year sentence, but US District Judge James B. Moran took mercy on Creamer. Coincidentally, Moran is the father-in-law of Peter Giangreco, a longtime Illinois Democratic insider who like Creamer, worked on Rod Blagojevich's successful 2002 gubernatorial campaign. Giangreco's endorsement is the first one I list.

To his credit, Creamer writes in his book, "I did much of the preliminary work on this book while spending five months on a forced sabbatical at the Federal Prison Camp at Terre Haute, Indiana."

Oh, Lynn Sweet, presumably the politically neutral Washington correspondent for the Chicago Sun-Times, gives an endorsement too.

Bob Creamer has been a consultant to Americans United since its inception in 2005 to successfully fend off the president's plan to privatize Social Security. Bob is one of the top political strategists in the country and he has spent four decades influencing the political and issues debates in America from Springfield, IL to Washington, DC. He has served as a consultant to some of the country's leading politicians and he has helped lead some of the most important issue fights in our nation's history.

Bob has taken all he has learned from his decades of public service and chronicled them in the definitive how-to-manual for how progressives can fight the right wing machine and win. Listen to Your Mother. Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win is the Bible for progressive activists and politicians who want to and are willing to go toe-to-toe with the right over the future of the country. Please join Bob, his wife Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and a host of Senators, Representatives and leading progressive figures for a reception on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 (see details below)

Celebrating the publication of Listen to Your Mother. Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win. Comments appearing in the book (can be found below). Credentialed media will receive one complementary copy of the book. (Note, if you want you are credentialed media, leave your e-mail in the comments section, and I'll give you the e-mail address where you can RSVP.)

You Are Invited
To a Reception Celebrating the Publication of Bob Creamer’s New Book
Listen to Your Mother. Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win

Tuesday November 13, 2007
The Mott House
122 Maryland Ave. NE, Washington
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM

New Book Says Progressives Must "Stand Up Straight" to Win

Washington, DC. A new book by veteran political organizer and strategist Robert Creamer says that progressives have an historic opportunity over the next two years to create long-term political realignment in the United States. But to be successful, he argues, progressives must forcefully reassert their commitment to fundamental progressive values and vision for the future.

"Some people think that in order to win, Democrats need to move to the political center by adopting conservative values and splitting the difference between progressive and conservatives positions," says Creamer. "History shows they are wrong. To win the next election and to win in the long term, we need to redefine the political center."

The book, titled Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight. How Progressive Can Win, lays out a broad strategy for progressive victory and describes the tactics needed to win real-world political battles one at a time. In the book’s foreword, "Progressive today need to take direct responsibility for winning." This book lays out a game plan for victory.

As an organizer and strategist, Bob Creamer has won all kinds of improbable victories for progressive causes. This book is must-reading for his fellow progressives who seek to do the same, and to build a more decent world. Pete Giangreco, Democratic Political Consultant, Partner, The Strategy Group

Even before the book’s publication it has received wide acclaim.
If Progressives are ready to move beyond the "Age of W" into a winning era, they can start with Stand Up Straight. This is more than a call to arms. This is a battle plan from one of the best campaign minds in America. Bob Creamer takes his readers from values to votes with practical tactics and insight gathered over decades of experience. This book is for player...spectators need not apply.
Senate Democratic Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL)

If every activist in America read Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight, we could change our country. This book will help bring on the New Progressive Era. It's that good." Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

Creamer’s book is a one-stop shop for political junkies, from a novice to a know-it-all…While Creamer writes from the progressive Democratic perspective, his chapters on organizing, messaging, demographics and constituency groups comprise a how-to political manual. Chicago Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief, Lynn Sweet

Stand Up Straight is nothing less than the bible for progressive political activists." Brad Woodhouse, President of Americans United for Change

Stand up Straight is a one-stop, nuts-and-bolts manual on how to run a winning campaign – and, in the process, return America to its progressive roots. Filled with learned-in-the-trenches lessons, Creamer's book is a master's class in electoral politics. Ariana Huffington, The Huffington Post

Stand Up Straight is a straight up shot in the arm for progressives. Robert Creamer has successfully turned decades of campaign and organizing skills into an essential handbook for understanding political power, activism, and progressive values. Creamer rightly argues that progressives should embrace their core principles and fight for the real political center in American politics today -- issues like universal health care and pre-K, energy independence, redeployment from Iraq, and a return to sane and sensible national security policies. John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress and former Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton

Progress takes more than passion, it requires planning. This book is a blueprint for victory." Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)

Bob Creamer's welcome book rightly instructs progressives to say and fight for what they believe. To Hell with the politics of timidity - a long-term progressive majority is within our reach." Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA)

Creamer's classroom has been (on) the frontlines and trenches of progressive organizing, from the Civil Rights Movement to the battle for children's health care. Here, he shows us how to replace fear with hope, to renew the call to commitment, and to create our society's next historical movement. Congressman John Lewis (D-GA)

A stand-up book from a stand-up guy, showing us how to put progress back into "progressive." From broad vision to minute details, Creamer offers an invaluable manual for those who want to reassert our country's historic egalitarian values of fairness, justice, and opportunity for all. Jim Hightower, best selling author, radio commentator and editor of the Hightower Lowdown.

In Stand Up Straight, Bob Creamer gives citizens an owners manual for Democracy. With a practical eye from his decades of experience, Bob shows how to do the real work of political organizing and win, by promoting deep progressive values. With hundreds of real world examples and step-by-step advice, Stand Up Straight is both inspirational and a serious tool. Thanks, Bob. Wes Boyd, Founder of MoveOn.org

This book is so important because it focuses like a laser on the one element that is essential to progressive victory: courage. With out exception, all of our historic victories have required that people had the courage to act -- and stand up straight. The lessons in Stand up Straight were learned the hard way by generations of Americans fighting for civil rights, women’s rights and important social change. It's a must read for anyone who is passionate about changing America – now. Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, President, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition

Jim Hightower's comment is my favorite. "A stand up book from a stand up guy..."

Try running that one past some bankers who had to deal with Creamers kited checks.

Also, considering the skeleton in her closet known as her husband, it's understandable why Schakowsky wants to bring back the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" to the public airwaves.

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Bush to kick off Lincoln bicentennial celebration next Feb. 12

Just as President Theodore Roosevelt did in 1909 with the 100th anniversary celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birth, President George W. Bush is expected to inaugurate the Lincoln bicentennial remembrance next year on February 12 at the Lincoln birthplace site near Hodgenville, Kentucky. Yes, next year is 2008, but the bicentennial bash is scheduled to last two years.

In addition to President Bush, all of the living presidents are invited to attend the festivities.

Actor Sam Waterston, who has portrayed Lincoln on stage and screen, will offer a presentation of the words of the savior of the Union.

Hat tip to Pol Watchers

Several Illinoisans are on the board of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, including Dick Durbin, Ray LaHood, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Julie Cellini, and Lura Lynn Ryan. Dr. Jean Bandler, who lives in Connecticut, is the daughter of the late Paul Douglas. Durbin now holds his seat in the Senate.

Related Marathon Pundit posts:

Andrew Ferguson video on his new book, Land of Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln birthplace site
Abraham Lincoln birthplace site's log cabin
"My earliest recollection is of the Knob Creek place"
Thirty hours in Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois
I found this bit of history in downtown Chicago today
Lincoln Bicentennial Commission playing with Lincoln Logs
Illinois lagging in Lincoln bicentennial celebrations

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Move America Forward caravan comes to Niles

On Tuesday evening, the Move America Forward "Fight for Victory" tour came to Niles, Illinois--the town just west of Morton Grove.

Work kept me from attending, so I did the next best thing: I sent Mrs. Marathon Pundit, who took several college level courses in photography in her native Latvia.

She did a fabulous job, especially since my instructions to her were basic--show up and take some pictures.

Up on top is retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Buzz Patterson, who in his "retirement" manages to write best-selling books, appear frequently on television, and of course, take part in the Move America Forward Caravan.

Over on the right is Dr. Steve Sauerberg, who is running for the Republican nomination for the US Senate in 2008 in Illinois--Dick Durbin's seat. Next to Sauerberg is a vote Durbin won't be counting on next November.

Diana Nagy sang Where Freedom Flies. Anne Leary of Backyard Conservative, who has her own post on Tuesday's rally, reports some of Nagy's relatives, who live twenty five miles south in Downers Grove, made the trip to up to Niles to see her peform. Leary also reports that there were a few Freepers in the crowd.

Anne wasn't the only blogger there, intrepid reporter Jake Jacobsen of the Freedom Folks showed up, that's Jake in red on the right. Their post isn't up yet, but I'm sure Jake and The Bald Chick will add their contribution soon.

And finally, a group shot of some proud Americans on September 11, 2007 showing their support of the troops in Niles, Illinois on a pleasant late summer evening.

Of the local media, CBS 2 and WGN-TV covered the rally.

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Fitz tackles the Chicago PD

Durbin should have been asking Gonzales what's taken so long.

Today's ST

The U.S. attorney's office has joined the ongoing criminal probe of an elite squad of the Chicago Police Department, working with Cook County prosecutors to investigate why police officials did not stop rogue officers who allegedly robbed and kidnapped civilians over at least four years, sources familiar with the investigation said.

xp Prairie State Blue

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Durbin: know the foe

This seems offensive to me at time of war. Especially from a Senate leader with little to show for this session of Congress.

Via the Trib,

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Thursday that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and state legislative leaders must end a budget impasse that threatens federal transportation money Congress has approved for the state.

"I would say we are looking for some leadership in Springfield," the Senate's No. 2 Democrat said in an interview with The Associated Press.

His comments came after a question-and-answer session with visiting constituents during which he cracked a joke comparing the logjam at the Illinois Capitol to religious strife in Iraq. Durbin said he had been asked to mediate the dispute between Blagojevich and state lawmakers, though he did not specify by whom.

"I told them that I was going to decline," he said. "I'd rather deal with the Sunnis and Shias than an open civil war. It's easier to figure out who your enemy is."

And Iraqi PM Maliki explaining the foes are neither Sunnis or Shias, but a deadly foe Durbin tragically at a loss to see,

"We put everyone before their moral responsibility to take a clear and strong stand in the face of terrorism in Iraq and we expect cooperation to dry up resources for terrorism," stressed Maliki. He added, "The terrorism that is claiming the lives of Iraqi citizens in Baghdad, Hilla, Mosul and Anbar is the same terrorism that intimidated citizens in Saudi Arabia, targeted the people of Egypt, and blew up the twin towers in New York and subways in Madrid and London."

Senator Durbin really ought to butt out of Illinois's budget despite the risk of loss of funds, and go back to the US Senate where there is real work he should have done.

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Posturing for Judgeships?

Two Illinois legislators have recently taken surprising political stands.

State Senator Kirk Dillard (R-DuPage County) cut a campaign ad segment for Barack Obama. It made big news in the Chicago metropolitan market and got big criticism from Republicans.

State Representative Jack Franks (D-Bull Valley) has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

So, why would Dillard go out onto a limb for Obama and Franks onto a similar branch for Hillary?

Dillard lost in the Illinois Senate Leadership fight to Frank Watson. Dillard also just voluntarily gave up the traditional power base of Chairman of the DuPage County Republican Central Committee.

Maybe he would like to be a federal judge in Chicago. Couldn't hurt to have a president or a vice president or even a U.S. Senator as an advocate.

Franks is similarly boxed in politically.

He could run for Congress against Republican Congressman Don Manzullo in the 16th congressional district.

But that would by no means be a slam-dunk.

And one of his 2006 contributors, Robert Abboud, is acting as if he is going to run against Manzullo.

Does Franks run against State Senator Pam Althoff next year?

Only if he is very, very brave.

He’d have to knock on twice as many doors and, surely, he has gotten tired of knocking on doors by now. It’s been eight years of going door-to-door.

As I have stated repeatedly, I have seen that women have a five- percentage point advantage over men in this area.

Why would he run for the state senate if Althoff were not vacating her seat to challenge Congresswoman Melissa Bean?

So, could Franks, who barely beat Dr. Tom Salvi—a man, I point out—afford to spot Althoff five-percentage points?

I don’t think so.

And, why take the risk by leaving what is by now a “safe” seat?

Or has Franks’ support of Hillary blown the conservative “cover” has spent low these many years creating?

Maybe it would make him vulnerable in his legislative seat, especially if a woman ran against him.

Franks got lots of publicity posturing for a Democratic Party primary challenge against Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Indeed, Franks is the anti-Blagojevich in the Illinois General Assembly.

So, why would Franks want to be a state senator under the leadership of Rod Blagojevich lover Emil Jones?

He gets paid the same as a state representative. And he seems to have reached a détente with McHenry County Republicans on giving Mike Tryon a free ride to Springfield, that is, no Democratic Party opponent, in return for his having no opposition.

And, Franks get to work with the father of Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who must love it every time Franks takes on the man the Speaker wants to beat in a gubernatorial primary election in 2010.

What else it left?

Franks could run for Attorney General, if Lisa Madigan ran for governor. I thought that most likely until Franks' endorsement of Hillary.

But that is a statewide race and his stances on hot button Democratic Party issues like homosexual rights and abortion have not been liberal enough to gain the support of the Personal PAC’s and gay rights supporters in Illinois.

So, what’s left that would be a step up?

How about a federal judgeship?

If Hillary gets elected president, Franks would have been one of the few prominent Illinois Democrats to have supported her before the primary election.

Trust me. Politicians remember who supported them when it counted most.

Sure, Franks would have to have the support of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

But, Durbin is a practical kind of guy.

I don’t see that as an obstacle.

So, if Hillary wins, I figure Franks has his choice of sitting on the federal bench in Rockford or in Chicago.

It’s a toss-up, in my mind, as to which he would pick.

= = = = =
The picture of Kirk Dillard and Frank Watson came from the Illinois Channel, which Comcast refuses to broadcast in McHenry County. Hillary Clinton's photograph comes from her campaign web site. The photos of Don Manzullo and Robert Abboud, Pam Althoff, Jack Franks, Mike Tryon and Dick Durbin were take by your intrepid photographer, most with need for a flash. All can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Posted originally on McHenry County Blog.

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Durbin's move to hush Rush

via The Hill,

“It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “I have this old-fashioned attitude that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they’re in a better position to make a decision.”

Durbin thinks we voters making bad decisions because we're not hearing both sides.

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Durbin on 'Cruise Control'

With no credible opposition in the wings, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin's 2008 re-election campaign appears to be on cruise control. His approval numbers are solidly in the 60% range. And in a hypothetical race between Durbin and his oft-perceived strongest challenger, former Republican Governor Jim Edgar -- Durbin holds a commanding 53%-32% lead.

In our survey of 600 registered Illinois voters, 60% approve of the job Dick Durbin is doing while 22.5% disapprove of the job he is doing. Senator Durbin's job approval is above 50% in every region of the state.

Durbin's approval rating runs 10% ahead of Rod Blagojevich's job approval ratings. And his disapproval is 20% lower than the Democrat Governor.

The only marginally soft spot for Sen. Durbin appears to be the Collar Counties:

67% Cook County
65% Chicago
50% Collar Counties
56% West/Northwest
66% Central
74% Southern

Read the crosstabs here.

And it's no surprise that former Governor Edgar quickly dismissed talk of a challenge to Senator Durbin given the 21 point lead in a hypothetical matchup with the former Gov.

While Edgar holds a lead within the margin of error in the Collar Counties and the Northwest part of the state, Durbin holds landslide leads in Cook County and the City of Chicago as well as comfortable leads in Central and Southern Illinois. Read the crosstabs here.

With 16 months until the election, the eventual Republican nominee will likely face a Durbin squeeze play: landslide numbers in Cook County and the City, combined with his strong support in Central and Southern Illinois. The only region of the state at play will be the collar counties and northwest Illinois and that's a potential recipe for a Durbin landslide re-election.

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