This week6 term U.S. Representative John M. Shimkus, (IL) R-Collinsville and freshman U.S. Representative Aaron Schock, (IL) R-Peoria failed to do what they swore and oath to do just a few short weeks ago:
“I… do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the Unit States…; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…”
I have been quiet regarding our distinguished Governor and the corruptions charges that the Feds recently filed against him. Gov. Blagojevich has been thought and accused of many things since he took office six years ago, but it took trying to “sell” Sen. Obama’s vacated seat to finally get enough people in an uproar to finally pressure the General Assembly to think about impeachment. And this is after a poll that was taken a year and a half ago that show something like 80% of the people wanted to have the ability to recall, just to recall Blagojevich. Chicagoans wanted this Chicago politician gone!
In 2005, Congress passed the Real ID Act requiring every state and U.S. territory to have a standardized drivers license. States will have control over what the licenses look and feel like, however a small magnetic strip, not unlike credit cards only smaller, must be somewhere on the license. In order to receive one of these new Real ID cards, one must prove citizenship and residency with multiple documents. In 2005 the cost was estimated to cost the states and territories around $100 million and so far Congress has allocated $40 million for the implementation of the Act. The original deadline for states to come into compliance was supposed to be this coming Monday May 12, 2008, but most states have been granted an extension. Illinois was granted an extension until December 31, 2009. When the states are in compliance with the Act, individuals will still have time to get their new license. Individuals born on or after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to obtain a Real ID by Dec. 1, 2014, while those born before will have until Dec. 1, 2017.
…Unless you are a Democrat. Then only your vote counts!
What I’m talking about is the recently passed law (HB1685) that joins Illinois in with other states to elect the President by national popular vote. This would effectively eliminate the purpose of the electoral college system. Many will of course think this is great, many won’t even care, while others are left to ask why does it matter.
I have been suspicious of the electronic voting machines since they were introduced in Peoria County. I was never satisfied that the paper trail could be accurately traced back to actual votes, not to mention all the potential voter information that could be gathered. It has seems to me that a free and open election can not be guaranteed using the electronic voting systems. Although I am sure that no vote tampering has occurred, I think it is way too easy for someone to do, and it seems I am not the only one with this opinion.
…or Con, Con for short. I like to call it the Con, Con con. I have been thinking about this post for a while now and I wasn’t quite ready to post it yet. But with this article in today’s Peoria Journal Star, I thought it necessary to post something now. I will probably post more later, perhaps in a series or something.
Here is the greatest warning I can give regarding the Constitutional Convention: be careful what you wish for, you might get it. You see, we may get exactly that, a new Constitution. But I guarantee you it will be worse for the common folk than what we currently have. Illinois is now on its fourth Constitution. And each one has slowly eroded our rights. The delegates that are elected to the convention are not answerable to the people other than we vote for them and we vote whether to accept the new Constitution. There are several special interest groups that are going to spend large sums of money to get their candidates of choice elected. I’m sorry, but with some of the elections of late, I don’t particularly trust the people will vote for good delegates or against a bad Constitution.
If the people of Illinois do decide to have a convention, here is a list of things that I predict will come from it:
Today news broke that Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the Russian Prim Minister and dissolved his cabinet. Putin then appointed a knew Prime Minister, which historically speaking makes him the leading candidate to become the next Russian President in the upcoming February election. The Russian Constitution only allows the President to serve two four year consecutive terms. The Prime Minister wields significant power in the political system that Russia follows. And Putin just up and gets rid of the guy and replaces him with one of his own cronies.
The Peoria Fire Department has the largest and best trained Hazardous Material response team in the region, and being so, it responds to several HazMat “events” in the region and beyond. So one would think the team would be adequately funded, but apparently that is not the case.
