Recently in Government Category

The Hound has been able to leave the kennel only after showing papers proving that, in fact, The Hound deserves to be in the U.S. Sort of like Arizona, but without the racial profiling aspect.

Those cowboys in the Southwest sure have stirred up a hornet's nest by passing their own faux immigration law. They decided not to wait until the next decade for Washington policymakers to come up with some immigration reform. Instead, they decided to take the law into their own hands in the Grand Canyon State. Yes, sirree, Bob. Now that's how the West was won.

What has immigration backers scared about Arizona's move to protect the state's borders is that others may follow. Currently, 18 states are rushing to follow Arizona's lead of cracking down on illegal immigration via a state route, rather than federal law. What Arizona did may be controversial, but apparently it's popular. Polls are tracking a 60 to 80 percent support for the measure. And the state's governor certainly didn't back down when she had a meeting with President Obama.

By the way, Illinois is not among the 18 states following Arizonans' lead. But you could expect that, couldn't you?

Although some Illinois pols want to boycott Arizona for conventions, vacations, junkets and sports trips. The Hounds says Lake County officials should get involved in this rush.

The red-light ticket camera vendor in a number of county communities, including Gurnee and North Chicago, is Redflex Traffic Systems, headquartered in dry and sunny Scottsdale, Ariz.

Time to take a stand Lake County and also strike a blow for motoring freedom!

What is it with Louisiana which attracts natural and now and environmental disasters? The Hound has to chalk it up to bad ju-ju or at the least, some nasty gris-gris.

Let's see, there's about 250,000 gallons of prime Gulf of Mexico crude oil headed toward the Pelican State's coastline every day, which also is sure to hit the Red Neck Riviera of Mississippi and Alabama, along with the Emerald Coast of Florida. But Louisiana is the first to take a hit. The folks there still haven't recovered from Hurricane Katrina and now they have to deal with this ecological disaster which began April 20.

Mixing oil with gumbo isn't The Hound's favorite repast. Nor should it be anyone else's. Wait until the photos of birds soaked in oil come across your TV sets. There goes President Obama's plan to open up the Gulf and Atlantic for offshore drilling. And, where's cheerleader Dick Durbin who was behind the president's call to "drill baby, drill"?

And, is The Hound the only one who thinks the Obama administration has had the Bush slows when it comes to dealing with this marine nightmare? Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Florida Gov. Charlie Christ, who just jettisoned the GOP to go as a loner in the state's U.S. Senate race in November, marshaled their forces early. Florida folks alerted Seaworld early on to be ready to accept marine creatures affected by the growing oil slick. The Hound is taking bets on which network says the slick is as big as Rhode Island. Early favorite is Diane Sawyer.

The president shows up at the frontlines nearly two weeks after the spill. He's from the govmint and he's here to help. Sounds similar to the Bush reaction to Katrina. Does this have anything to do with Washington's inability to see beyond the Beltway? Or, for the Obama administration, just bad ju-ju?

Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias must think he's coated in Teflon if he believes the shot federal banking regulators took in closing his family's bank won't make a difference in his U.S. Senate race. And, what must state Democrats be thinking now that more of the party's dirty laundry is out in the open? Where's Scott Lee Cohen when you need him?

In a statement, the game Democrat and buddy of President Obama said over the weekend his campaign "goes forward with a renewed determination to turn Illinois' economy around and to fix what's broken in Washington, D.C." Uh-huh. At least Lexi won't have to do anymore explaining about the odd loans that were generated at Chicago's Broadway Bank, some of them on his watch before he was elected state treasurer. The bank, where Giannoulias was a senior loan officer, lost $75 million last year and the feds said his family had to raise at least $85 million to keep afloat.

But this is one candidate who can't say he wants to bring business practices to government. Let's see, the state is on the verge of bankruptcy and the business of the candidate at the top of the ticket just went belly up. What else can go wrong? How about Rod Blagojevich wanting the president to testify at his trial?

Only in Illinois.

So, President Obama, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., former Gov. Jim Edgar, R-retired, and Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran all want immigration reform sooner than later. But, these immigrants aren't even "from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow". We're worried about the wrong immigrants.

Ever notice all the Brits, Aussies, Irish and Scotch taking over the U.S. entertainment industry. Forget the recording industry (although Keith Urban is from Down Under, right mate?), The Hound is talking about televison and the cinema. Can The Hound go over to Scotland and host a late-night TV show on BBC 1? Of course not.

But, we let these Celtic folks permeate our media. Where's the Tea Party members complaining about this invasion? Drinking sweet tea, that's where.

And, shouldn't immigration start to investigate all the folks on "Dancing With the Stars"? Pretty strange surnames, what? What's with the Smirnovs and Davalantes? Anybody check their work permits?

If the sheriff has decided he doesn't want to rustle up illegal immigrants any more, The Hound suggests he take his lasso to Hollywood.

The governor and lieutenant governor tickets for both parties appear to be set for the Nov. 2 election. That is if Gov. Pat Quinn doesn't change his mind again or Democratic state central committeemen stage a revolt. If so, things could really get interesting.

Lake Forest state Sen. Susan Garrett was the front-runner in the lite gov. sweepstakes, but then she went ahead this week and said she really didn't agree with Gov. Waffle's call for a hike in the state income tax. That put the kibosh on her chances and opened the door for Sheila Simon, daughter of the late and well-liked U.S. senator, Paul Simon.

While Quinn is all a twitter about his new running mate, really, what does Ms. Simon bring to the ticket? She's a woman, a downstater who lost in her run in 2007 to become mayor of Carbondale, home of the Southern Illinois University Salukis, where Simon is a law professor. The mother of two also plays the banjo in a band with the appropriate sobriquet for a downstate band, Loose Gravel.

Quinn must be paying attention to those polls which show him trailing Republican opponent state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington so he plucks a downstater to blunt that. Except the battleground in November will be the collar counties, where Garrett would have been a definite asset. Besides, Garrett has played well in the rough-and-tumble politics of Springfield and she's been elected in Republican-leaning Lake County enough times to qualify as a veteran pol.

Meanwhile, Illinois Republicans are licking their chops, hoping through some miracle November begins in two months. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele breezes into Chicago late next month for an "Illinois is Next" party featuring the GOP's entire statewide ticket.

That means the national party figures Illinois is in play to turn from blue to red. The tickets have been punched and the ride may be hairy over the next months.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has cobbled together a plan to put a dent in the $13 billion budget deficit this Third World state is facing. He wants to jack the income tax 1 percent and borrow lots of money. Is the International Monetary Fund available for a home equity loan?

The IMF may be the banker of last resort for Gov. Moneybags because Illinois has the lowest bond rating of every state in the union save for California. Mississippi has a better bond rating than Illinois. Uzbekistan may have a better bond rating than Illinois. What does that say about the stewardship of the Quinn, Blagojevich and Madigan triumvirate and their co-dependent Republicans these last few years? The Hound will tell you what it means: We're in a world of financial hurt, fellas.

Of course, the Democratic answer is raise taxes. The Hound wouldn't mind a tax increase if lawmakers and the governor would rein in their spending, something they haven't been able to do for years. This being an election year and with an electorate in a totally foul mood, which Lake County lawmakers will be brave enough to vote to raise taxes? There will be a few, but not in districts where there is competition.

As The Hound noted, getting a tax hike passed in the Legislature may be the easy part. Finding bankers to fund this financial sty called Illinois may be the tough part for Quinn the Waffler. If your household was this bad off, no bank would float you a loan. The first thing a bank would do to you would put you on a short-spending leash.
Lawmakers don't take kindly to any type of leash.

The Hound says we declare bankruptcy, change the state's name to Linconia, secede from the U.S. and apply for membership in the United Nations. That way IMF help is guaranteed.

The Hound certainly is bewildered over the suit filed by a group of Chicagoans contending the Regional Transportation Authority and Metra discriminate against the city. Doesn't the Chicago Transit Authority get the lion's share of transit funding in the six-county area? To The Hound, this is another "us versus them" suit.

In fact, the CTA gets about double of what Metra gets in operating funds from the RTA, the umbrella transit agency for the region. The class-action suit maintains blacks and Hispanics, who make up the majority of CTA riders, get shortchanged. The suit goes on to contend Metra riders, mainly white, get better service. Its racial discrimination, the suit claims.

Obviously, these Chicagoans have not taken the Metra North Line to Zion or Winthrop Harbor or North Chicago or Waukegan. Talk about lack of service. It's not the trains. They run fine. It's the stations.

Or should The Hound say lack of stations. Waukegan's closes up earlier than an Iowa town and the building looks like it was designed by a Russian architect, circa 1960. Let's move north to Zion, where the station is well, not a station. It's a platform which doesn't even compare to the nice El platforms in the Big City. As for parking, it's catch-as-catch-can. The same goes for the "station" in Windy Harbor. The North Chicago station is hidden in back of Abbott Laboratories and, once again, is a skinny platform.

Maybe these four communities should have joined in the discrimination lawsuit. They want to see disparities in funding? Come north and see what Metra gives Waukegan, Zion and Winthrop Harbor. The Hound doesn't even think Zion and Windy Harbor have porta-potties on site. Now that is discrimination.

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President Obama is doing his best to help bail out Illinois' financial condition with the announcement the federal government is going to buy the empty Thomson Correctional Center in the northwest part of the state to house terrrorist detainees. So, where's The Hound's check?

Illinois taxpayers paid to build this prison, investing, according to one estimate, as much as $250 million in land and construction costs, plus bond interest which is figured at another $50 mil. Now here comes the feds wanting to buy it to house those War on Terror prisoners now held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Aren't Illinoisans part of the federal government? Won't part of our federal taxes go to pay for the Thomson purchase? Are we being double-taxed on this done deal which only a Democrat schooled in Chicago could come up with?

If anything, Illinois taxpayers deserve a rebate check once the ink is signed and Thomson becomes a federal correctional facility. Especially since our prisons are still overcrowded and we may have to build yet another one to replace Thomson.

So what gives? Where's our public hearings on this process of moving these dangerous terrorists close to prime swine-herd lands? Talk about your pork. What exactly is a prison worth these days, given the feds really, really want this one? Bet Lake County township tax assessors would say it's worth a gazillion.

And what's with Gov. Pat Quinn spouting off about us flatlanders not being afraid "of anybody or anything." The Hound is afraid, afraid of Gov. Waffle. He may decide next week this terrorist prison may not be such a great idea. And there goes all those jobs!

Of course, the burghers of Thomson are welcoming the detainees for the jobs an open prison will bring. They aren't afraid.

But if The Hound lived in Iowa...now that's where fear might be creeping. The closest airport is Clinton, just across the wide Mississippi from Thomson. If the prison was in Iowa, those farmers would drive a hard bargain for the facility and hold out for some real cash. Don't roll over, Gov. Waffle! Be hard-nosed in bargaining to bring terrorists to Illinois.

Just in time for the premiere of AMC's "The Prisoner" remake, we learn Illinois may be the home to some 200 al-Qaida terrorists currently near a Cuban beach in Guantanamo Bay. The Hound says ship them to the Thomson Correctional Center. We might as well make something off the Jihadists.

Besides, these prisoners look like they will be surrounded by about 1,500 GIs, if U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin knows what he is talking about. If military guards are involved, what happens to the 3,000 jobs Gov. Pat Quinn was touting for tiny Thomson, out there in northwest Illinois, a region which over the years has commonly been referred to as Forgottonia. That's because the rest of Illinois has forgotten about it, like one of your funny uncles.

Congressional Republicans have decided to fight this proposal by the Obama administration tooth and nail with Highland Park Congressman Mark Kirk leading the charge to keep these terrorists where they belong --- Cuba. He says putting them in Illinois leaves us open to danger at O'Hare International Airport and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower). He even has an online petition on his U.S. Senate campaign Web site to send a message that Illinoisans don't want terrorists here: www.noterroristsinillinois.com.

Kirk and his fellow Illinois Republicans argue if the Islamic terrorists are here, they will endanger Illinois. The Hound thinks we have enough of homegrown terrorism on the streets of our cities that we can handle 200 Jihadists. Besides, they may like it here. Except in winter.

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Senior citizens sure have clout in this state. They stared down lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn when it came to the possibility of losing their free mass transit rides. Sturdy legislators turned to Jell-o when facing the voting booth wrath of Illinois geezers denied gratis bus and train rides. Quinn, too, waffled after transit agencies thought they had an agreement to restrict the free rides to low-income seniors and half fares for other seniors.

For all of you who thought there was no free lunch, talk to Illinois pols. They fear seniors mainly because they vote. A lot. While the nation's youth vote may have propelled then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama into the White House, they only come out when they're energized on an issue or candidate. Seniors don't care. They just vote. A lot. Which is why seniors get so much free stuff and reduced rates for everything from hotel rooms to national park entrance fees.

A group of seniors storming Springfield sends shivers down the spine of normally unswayable pols. Which is why the two-year-old free rides for seniors 65 and older is still running. When faced with re-election prospects, pols err on the side of seniors and their growing numbers (see, Boomers, Baby).

Chicago Transit Authority officials believe the free rail rides instituted by former Gov. Rod "The Apprentice" Blagojevich has cost them some $60 million. They were hoping to recoup that. Guess again. Now the CTA is looking at service cuts and fare increases.

We like what one lawmaker unconcerned with geezer rage said: "There is no free ride on a bus that doesn't exist." Who said seniors are in their golden years? Not The Hound.