Take that, silly creationist persons.
‘The Union List’
100 Days Without Rod Blagojevich
by Fox Valley For Quinn, posted on Sunday, May 17th, 2009 at 8:02 pm100 Days of Reform
Because Rod Blagojevich is still looking for a post-political TV gig, the title of this blog post should probably be 100 days of reform and leadership under Governor Pat Quinn.
Following the attempted sale of Barack Obama’s Senate seat and the subsequent removal of pay-to-play Rod, Illinois voters have had a taste of democracy under Pat Quinn. You all weighed in on Blagojevich and you deserve an opportunity to weigh in on the Quinn reform agenda.
We have had more progress under Governor Pat Quinn than we did under both of his predecessors who are, or will be in jail. We will use the space below to highlight Quinn’s 108 days of success, make a case for keeping Governor Pat Quinn and encourage Speaker Madigan to get behind Quinn’s reform agenda.
A Tale of Two Health Care Systems
by Downtowner, posted on Sunday, May 17th, 2009 at 6:13 pmFirst, an apology – I’ve been incredibly busy since this blog launched, mostly living as a road warrior for work, but also providing necessary grandmotherly support for the birth of not one, but two, new grandchildren. Jane Danger, who arrived in this world at about the same time this blog did, and Joseph (aka “Joe-normous”) who appeared exactly one month later. So since January 1 or so, if I haven’t been hanging out helping their Moms – my daughters – I’ve been on the road in Michigan, Iowa, Oregon, wherever, for work. All of which means I’ve spent about a grand total of ten minutes a day on-line since January 1 – hardly the most efficient way to launch a new blog – so my apologies to those who’ve been checking in and finding me absent.
Which leads me to my “followers,” or in this case my Twitter followers. There aren’t really that many. I think I’ve spent about ten minutes total on Twitter in my life, and don’t think I’ve even uttered a tweet yet, but there are a few followers – mostly people I know. One I picked up very recently particularly caught my attention, considering the juxtaposition between said follower’s occupation and what was going on in my real life at the time.
So follow me, if you dare (and have a fair piece of time to spend – this will be loooonnnng) into the Tale of Two Health Care Systems.
Another Blow to Dennis Hastert’s Highway
by John Laesch, posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 9:40 amLast night, May 11, 2009, Alderman Bob Hausler was sworn in as the new Mayor of Plano.
It was an exciting night for progressives, union members and environmentalists — Bob Hausler is all of the above. The retired UAW Local 145 member
Bob fought off two strong opponents with a steady, consistent door-to-door campaign and became the Mayor-elect on April 7th. Much more could be written about the shy, grassroots Mayor of Plano and the many activists who helped get him into the winners circle, but I want to get to the good stuff.
Obama’s First Hundred Days: A Critical Assessment From the Left
by Paul Street, posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 at 11:18 pmCross-posted from ZNet, where it was published on May 1, 2009.
A shortened version of this speech was given at a public forum sponsored by AWARE, the local Anti War Anti Racism Effort in Urbana, Illinois on the evening of April 30, 2009 at the Urbana City Council Chambers.
Thank you for inviting me to speak on the new administration’s first hundred days of centrist rule. Along with a number of other left writers and speakers over the last two years including Glen Ford, Bruce Dixon, Margaret Kimberly, Pam Martens, Michael Hudson, John Pilger, Chris Hedges,
Before I get into specifics I want to make six quick caveats or qualifications that might provide some useful context for my remarks. The first caveat as is that for all my harsh judgments, I have never doubted that what Barack Obama has been doing is highly intelligent from the perspective of seeking glory and advancement within the narrow institutional and ideological framework of the dominant U.S. political system and culture. Obama and his team are masterful political actors and most of what I disapprove of in their behavior is heavily incentivized by that system and culture.
Second, my critique of the Obama administration is informed by a deeper and broader critique of the Democratic Party and its longstanding role of defining and policing the constricted leftmost parameters of acceptable political debate in the U.S. For the last century it has been the Democratic Party’s distinctive assignment to play what the Marxist author Lance Selfa calls “the role of shock absorber, trying to head off and co-opt restive [and potentially radical] segments of the electorate” by posing as “the party of the people.” If you buy my book Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics
Some of My Best Friends: A Conversation with Pansy Division’s Jon Ginoli
by n0madic, posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 9:48 amBefore Peoria-native Jon Ginoli was even out of his twenties he had done seemingly everything there was to do in music. Having moved to Champaign-Urbana to attend the University of Illinois, he had written for a series of music magazines and fanzines,
He also played in a band of his own, The Outnumbered, a mainstay of the local music scene in the mid-1980s that released three albums and toured widely, and was remembered by one writer who knew them well as “perhaps the world’s only all-male feminist band, performing anti-misogynist, anti-capitalist, anti-war rants at the height of the Reagan era.”
He is best known, however, for his next band, the path-breaking gay rock band Pansy Division, which he founded in 1991 after moving to San Francisco. Eighteen years later Pansy Division is still around, still recording new material and performing live when most veterans of the earliest days of the gay rock scene have long since disappeared. In March Jon’s memoir, Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division
I recently caught up with Jon on his book tour for Deflowered and we sat down one evening to talk about, what else, life in Pansy Division. (More on whether it’s a “pop-punk” or “rock” band or both, among other things, after the jump.)
Sutcliff and Laesch receive Illinois Democratic Women awards
by The Editors, posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 5:30 pmIllinois Democratic Women honored two Fox Valley women Friday evening at their annual conference banquet, held at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield. Yorkville’s Robyn Sutcliff was awarded the organization’s Hillary Rodham Clinton Leadership Award and Jennifer Laesch, of Aurora, received a Penny Severns Memorial Scholarship for Government Service.
Sutcliff, who currently serves as Alderman for the Third Ward of the city of Yorkville, and is in her second term as Treasurer of the Kendall County Democratic Party,
Previous recipients of the award include Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson, and DeKalb County Democratic Party Chair Eileen Dubin.
Laesch is currently a student at Waubonsee Community College, where she is pursuing two avenues of study, public policy and teaching.
Illinois Democratic Women, formerly known as the Illinois Democratic Women’s Caucus, was founded in 1971. It describes itself as “a grass-roots organization whose purpose shall be working for more equitable representation and participation of Democrat women in all levels of the Democrat Party and in all levels of government.”
Ethan Hastert officially “exploring”
by Downtowner, posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 9:06 pmLaesch had it first, but the Daily Herald is now reporting that Ethan Hastert is exploring a run in IL-14.
Lovely. We can now look forward to a run by a guy whose two greatest claims to fame are:
a.) being the son of the Speaker-from-hell who presided over the gutting of the checks and balances that we should expect from the People’s House in order to serve instead as the Cheerleader in Chief for a criminal administration
b.) working for the only person, Scooter Libby, actually convicted from that administration
Just charming.
UPDATE (already)
Andre Salles at the Beacon has it here.
Another Hastert for Congress Effort?
by John Laesch, posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 8:06 amLast evening on my drive home from work, I received a call from a campaign supporter by the name of Ben. He was calling to tell me that he had received a polling call yesterday.
Ben, who lives in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, did not know who conducted the poll, but he recognized that the polling questions were framed by the Republican Party. Issue questions framed Obama’s agenda in a negative light and focused on tax cuts. It always amazes me that the Republicans have not figured out the fact that their tried and true message of the past, “tax cuts will save America,” is not working.
The interesting part of the poll was the question about Dennis Hastert.
“If the election were held today, would you vote for Dennis Hastert or Bill Foster.”
The next question was similar.
“If the election were held today, would you vote for Ethan Hastert or Bill Foster.”
Speculate away.
Scenes from (near) the Inauguration
by n0madic, posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 at 9:45 pmI didn’t make it to the Inauguration Ceremony, but I got close. Just about as close as it was possible to get without a ticket. As close, in fact, as some people got with a ticket.
