respublica

State of the Union

The MAtH (man about the house) is out in DC to join in the fun.  The State of the Union is the equivalent of the Super Bowl for political junkies, members of congress, and staffers, with clubs and bars having  tv's tuned to the speech and the pundit opinions afterward.  What is predictable is the partisanship or shall we say, fan support, which will be shown.  All that's needed is school colors and cheerleaders.  Maybe each party should adopt a mascot and team colors.  heh.  As much fun as anyone can have without goalposts.

From the MAtH's Meyer Minute for January 30:

One political commentator said, “Party zeal was rampant in the chambers…. Discussion of foreign relations was replete with partisan rhetoric and factional bickering, creating an…environment of tension and turbulence.”

The year was 1798. On January 30 a member of the United States House of Representatives, Matthew Lyon of Vermont railed about “the malign influence of Connecticut politicians.”  So Representative Roger Griswold of Connecticut walked up to Lyon and insulted him. Lyon responded by spitting in Griswold’s face. Two weeks later, February 15, 1798, Griswold retaliated by walking up to Lyon in the House chamber and beating Lyon with a hickory cane. Lyon struck back with fireplace tongs but was thrown to the floor and pummeled by Griswold.              

What they get for the money in East St. Louis

A few hours after 2 East St Louis democratic precinct workers were sentenced for their roles in a vote buying scheme during the 2004 election, the St. Clair County board voted 21-6 to continue giving the East St. Louis election board $99,916 or $97,143 depending on which paper you read.  The cost of running an election in that city is in the $400,000 range so let's see what they get for the money.

The people of East St. Louis have received democratic party workers who purchase votes and are now facing jail time.  They have been voting on antiquated voting equipment under the supervision of workers who have not been trained in overseeing elections. 

Last night's vote by the St. Clair County board was taken after receiving recommendations from an ad hoc committee which studied the East St. Louis voting situation and came up with recommendations including having the county election office work with the ESL election board in order to train, educate and upgrade elections.  However, the board stopped short of only funding the state required minimum amount of $21, 200.  The six republicans on the board voted against the proposal, including Steve Reeb who yesterday was reported to be considering voting for the full amount. 

"I don't disagree with the committee's findings, but it didn't go far enough," said Reeb, who was a member of the committee. "I would've liked to have seen an audit report. Maybe it was my fault for not pushing harder for it during the meetings. I still believe we need one election board, not two."

An audit might have been nice.  Maybe the voters of East St. Louis will someday realize they would be much better served by the County Clerk's office running their elections like every other city, but until then, there should be an accounting of what they get for the money.  An accounting would be nice, but a motion by Board member Kyle McCarter which asked that the county "require the East St. Louis Board of Commissioners to submit a specific plan for reducing costs, justification for voter roll totals that is consistent with census data, and monthly financial statements," was voted down.

St. Clair County to vote on election oversight

Speaking of elections as I did just below, the St. Clair County board will vote tonight on whether or not to decrease funding to the East St. Louis election board.  East St. Louis is the only city in the county to run their own elections and St. Clair County kicks in $99,916 to help them do this.  By voting to limit their offering to $21,200, it was the hope of some county people this would encourage an effort by East St. Louis to join the rest of the county's cities and operate their elections under the supervision of the County Clerk.

East St. Louis, with a population of around 30,000 must make ending their election board a ballot issue.  It is time they did.  The last election saw more than a little illegal voting activity, with a number of officials convicted of vote fraud last summer.  The Belleville paper seems to think that Republican county board member Steve Reeb, himself one of the biggest victims of questionable voting last time, will vote to continue the 99,916 dollars to the East St. Louis election board.  I wonder why, since Reeb has long been outspoken about changing the way East St. Louis handles elections.

Early voting? Boon or Bane?

Rich Miller has a post up on his Capitol Fax site today which discusses the new Illinois early voting procedures which will take effect starting with the March primary.  He links the story in yesterday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch which gave the details and asked what his readers thought. 

Often questions like this get answers which fall into party lines and so far the comments seem to bear this out.  The question isn't should we be doing this early voting because the governor has already signed the measure into law, but it should be how is this going to work and what pitfalls are going to show up.   And, will it make a difference in numbers? 

Frankly, as an election judge for over 20 years, I have seen big turnouts and tiny turnouts.  It all depends on what the issue is and who the candidates are.  Local elections are notoriously low unless there is a school referendum on the ballot.  I really doubt very many voters will take the time to drive to the county courthouse to vote early for a school board candidate unless that person is a relative.   Illinois voters have had the opportunity to vote early at their county courthouses for some years as well being able to vote absentee.  And election day is 13 hours long. 

One of Rich's commenter's asked about having elections on Saturday and Sunday.  Whoa.  Two days of election judging.  Two 13 hour days plus end of election administrative work?  You don't just mix and match election judges, there has to be continuous oversight and so many judges are elderly.  Don't like that?  What are some alternatives to judges of election?

If the shoe fits

As the MAtH (man about the house) and I are looking over Dianne Isbell's Monday Etiquette column in the Belleville News-Democrat we come across the "dreaded question".

Me:  Dianne's first question is: "My mother-in-law called me to get my sizes so she can look for something for my birthday. I stalled her, stuttering and stammering about not knowing all of them. I just don't feel comfortable telling her because I've gained a few pounds. What can I do?"

MAtH:  uh oh, I feel a family problem coming on.

Me:  The mother-in-law part is the red flag, isn't it?

MAtH:  The woman gets a question from the MIL and starts stuttering and stammering?  There's more going on here than just a birthday present.

Me:  Well, I can understand how she feels about being asked her size, sometimes you just don't want people to know, women are sensitive about things like that.

MAtH:  Not us guys.  We aren't embarrassed to move up a size, but I've worn the same size since I got out of college.

Me:  True, you've worn the same size, but not always the right size.

MAtH:  What're you saying?  My shirt size has always been 16 1/2 34 forever.

Me:  I'm saying that's the size you insist on wearing. 

MAtH:  So what should I tell my mother in law when she asks my size? 

Me:  What you need to do is go and try some different sizes on to see which ones fit best.

MAtH:  Ugh, no way.  I go into store dressing rooms when I get a new suit and that is it, I don't even try on shoes because my size has never changed.

Me: 

MAtH:  What're you thinking?

Me:  I'm wondering why the mother-in-law in Dianne's letter has to buy clothes for her daughter-in-law anyway.  Wouldn't it be more polite to get a gift card to a clothing store or buy her a book or music or something?

MAtH:  How about a membership to a fitness club?  Bwahahahahaha

Me:  When's your birthday again?

MAtH:  What are you saying?

Me:  Just planning ahead...

Dog year

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year and 2006 is the year of the dog.  This has to be my favorite of all the animal years because so many are such unappealing ones like The Rat and The Snake and The Rooster.  A Dog year person would be someone who had been born in the following years:  1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, and 2006 and these people are loyal, honest and know how to keep secrets.  They are also stubborn, selfish and eccentric. 

It is a tradition on this day to open all doors and windows to let every bit of the old year blow out as well as to shoot off firecrackers and clean the home from top to bottom.  In any event, I am so happy it is the Year of the dog, we love dogs, especially our own.

"There was never any intent to kill this baby."

A letter to the editor in the Belleville News Democrat today was a smack to complacency, short, but chillingly to the point. 

"Interesting to note how many of the headlines about beaten or murdered children start with, "The mother and her live-in boyfriend....Brent Rains Collinsville

And just after seeing the letter, I went on to read this headlline from the Daily Southtown:  Dad: I wasn't trying to kill the baby.  A 19 year old Oak Lawn man was indicted for the abuse and attempted murder of his month old son.

"Over the course of six days, prosecutors said, Kriesel threw his fragile son against a wall, punched the baby in the back and bit his cheek hard enough to leave a mark, according to Oak Lawn police.

He also struck the boy's head against a shower fixture, rubbed his eye until it left a mark and tossed him in the air — only to catch him by the wrist, prosecutors said.

Early Jan. 12, Kriesel pinched the baby's nose with his nails, tried choking him, then punched his back twice, said Tandra Simonton, a state's attorney's office spokeswoman."

And then the story tells us the mother of the child noticed the baby had stopped eating and was acting strange and took him to the hospital.  "Officers were notified about possible abuse and accompanied Kriesel from his mother's house, 6546 91st Place — where he lived with Steger and their son — to the police station where they said he admitted to the violent acts.

There is a lesson here.  Maybe more than one.

And the walls come tumbling down

A personal note, I am heading to a friend's house this morning to help her tear down a wall between her kitchen and dining room so that her kitchen remodel can get underway.  We're going to have some kind of fun today.  Pictures later.  Oh, and no, it is not a bearing wall.

7 hours later

Such fun two women can have tearing into a wall!  All we needed was the camera crew from Weekend Warriors and the day would have been perfect.  But, Weekend Warriors likes to see problems in home improvement projects and this one went pretty darn smooth.  Dirty, but smooth.

The wall that is going to come out is on the left in this dining room shot.

The same wall, this time from the kitchen side.

Pat's husband John thought the corners needed to be scored before we started smashing away so he got out his reciprocating saw and did just that.

Finally Pat got to take the first swing at the wall.  Pfflunk, one hole.  The hard part was getting the sledge hammer out of the hole.

Yay, all done.  The studs are going to stay until the professionals come and frame everything in, then they will take away the old 2 by 4's. 

About this time when we were sweeping and vacuuming all the grit and yanking the last of the nails, who should show up but the MAtH (man about the house).  His first comment was not about how much work we'd gotten done in a relatively short time, but he said, "Oh, wow, a reciprocating saw!  I want one of those!"  We asked him what he'd do with it and he said, "I don't have a use for it, I would just like to say I have one."  He then said goodbye and headed home. I'm home now, cleaned up and ready to spend the evening watching other people work on HGTV.  heh.

Eisendrath looks at Southern Illinois

Edwin (I wish he'd go by Ed) Eisendrath, democratic candidate for governor is saying all the right things about Southern Illinois and has even received an endorsement from the Mayor of Sesser.  I know...the question in other parts of the state is, "Sesser?"  "What's a Sesser?"  The city's website plays patriotic music.

Accompanied by "tour guide" and outspoken endorser Sesser Mayor Ned Mitchell, Eisendrath spent the latter part of the week making stops throughout Southern Illinois - a region he said has been badly neglected by Blagojevich.

This part of the state has heard this before, but it does seem as though Eisendrath, by spending a fair amount of time here is at least worth listening to.  He's also doing the right thing by visiting not only the small rural and mining towns of the deep south, but the St. Louis suburbs of the Metro East.  Southern Illinois is fairly diverse which makes it difficult to categorize as being of one type. 

The fact that very few political observers give him much chance to defeat Governor Blagojevich in the March primary may make him work harder to prove them wrong.  Will any of the republican candidates make the trip down here?  Or will they send a "spokesman"?

Ideas for an Illinois stamp

Cal Skinner on his McHenry County blog shows 40 new state stamps featuring "Land of Superlatives" (I hope the United States Post Office didn't pay an outside consultant group to come up with that title) and Illinois is not one of them.  How can that be?  Illinois has its share of cities claiming the world's biggest this and most unique that.  For instance:

Chester-the home of Popeye the Sailor Man has a statue of the cartoon character and a big Popeye picnic each summer.  Don't know if there is a spinach eating contest.

Collinsville-the home of the World's Largest Catsup Bottle.  Nuff said.

Niles-The Leaning Tower of Niles, built to honor Galileo.  Not enough said.

Alton-Statue of the World's Biggest Man.  History and a statue.

Arcola-The Hippie Memorial.  Heh, who knew Arcola, better known for its Amish population had a hippie connection too.

Mt. Olive-Mother Jones resting place and memorial

And much much more.  Illinois deserves a stamp!