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Capitol Fax

Rich Miller's commentary on State Government

Moments after members of the Illinois State Board of Education voted to cut the board's budget by a net $180 million last week, an activist group called Voices for Illinois Children sent out an urgent e-mail to supporters.

The group sketched out the pain the cuts would cause (the net cut actually disguises a $389 million reduction to individual program lines). A one-third cut to early childhood programs, for example, could mean the loss of preschool for 30,000 children.

"This budget immediately erases five years of progress in early learning," the group's interim president was quoted as saying in the e-mail. Voices has an interim president because its founding president is now Gov. Pat Quinn's chief of staff. The group was ecstatic when Jerry Stermer took Quinn's top job, but the champagne bottles are long empty.

The Voices e-mail also pointed out that Gov. Quinn was given $1.2 billion in discretionary spending authority by the General Assembly, which, the group noted, Quinn could use to close that education funding gap.

A different organization, Illinois Action for Children, sent out a blast e-mail shortly after Voices did.

"Governor Quinn has the power and the moral authority to reinstate this funding, and we are calling on him to do that before it is too late for children and families in Illinois," the group's president demanded.

They'll all have to get in line. Social service providers have already been eyeing Quinn's $1.2 billion cash stash to patch their own budget holes created by the Legislature.

And they're not alone, either. The General Assembly allowed Quinn to use the money for pretty much anything, including operations, so the employee unions may demand a piece of that $1.2 billion to reduce the number of threatened layoffs.

Actually, once word gets around about this discretionary authority, Quinn might wake up one morning very soon and wish he didn't have it. That line of demanders will be long, angry and probably not very sympathetic about the governor's Solomonic dilemma.

But that little pot of gold pales in comparison to the cuts which still have to be made.

Gov. Quinn was also given the authority (which he'll need) to set aside up to $1.1 billion in state spending to fund a "contingency reserve." Almost every aspect of state spending was included in the provision - except for the General Assembly and every constitutional officer besides the governor, of course. That means cuts.

The new budget law also requires the governor to make at least another $1 billion in unspecified cuts. More pain. The actual deficit somewhere around $5 billion, so those two reduction items will only make up one part of the governor's budget management headache.

And then there's the alarming problem of a rapidly emptied state unemployment insurance trust fund that nobody has really dealt with as of yet. Right now, the state is borrowing from the federal government to replenish the fund - and piling up more crushing debt in the process. That's not gonna look good to the credit rating agencies, which are fixing to whack Illinois with yet another downgrade.

And then there's next year's budget deficit that the governor has to take into consideration when spending money this year.

A couple of days after it demanded Quinn spend part of that $1.2 billion stash on education, Voices for Illinois Children released a report showing next year's budget deficit will be at least $10.3 billion. That's about what I've been saying for weeks.

One-time revenue gimmicks and the federal stimulus package this year added up to over $5 billion. And new spending next year - pensions and debt payments on the borrowing this year - adds almost $2 billion more. Plus, the state is carrying over a deficit from last year which won't be paid this year, so that $3.2 billion gets added to the total.

Is your head spinning yet from all this red ink? Mine certainly is.

Maybe Quinn ought to just take that $1.2 billion and put it in the bank and save it for next year.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com

Audit the Fed

Trillions of dollars are being stolen from the USA taxpayers. We are being plundered by the out of control so called Federal Reserve which is not federal and which no longer has a reserve.

We can stop it all. Contact Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty or call your Congressman and Senators to support "Audit the Fed". In the House this bill is H. R. 1207 and in the Senate S. 604. The "Audit the Fed" already has over 200 cosponsors.

If we don't act, I fear this crisis will end up as an economic ruin of every man, woman and child in America.

Today nearly 12 trillion taxpayer dollars in so-called bailouts and loans have been agreed to by the Democratic-controlled Congress, and the Bush and Obama Treasury Departments and out of control Federal Reserve.

I do believe most Americans are beginning to realize the D. C. establishment and shadow government of New World Order advocates behind scenes is hurtling our Nation to a complete economic disaster.

When Congress gets threatened with Martial Law to pass the phony stimulus Obama package, Americans are increasingly getting angry and upset. Martial Law is NOT freedom!!

Now is the time to Audit the Fed. Call your Senators/Congressmen at (202) 225-3121 to support S. 604 or H. R. 1207.

The so-called Federal Reserve is shrouded in secrecy. Their meetings are off limits to the public and their inner workings are off limits to the public.

When Congress asked the Fed where the money went to occount for $2 trillion in taxpayer backed loans, the Fed said "No way"! We need an anti-Fedfirestorm of the American people.

Our money is not worth the paper it is printed on.

Please contact your representatives. The crooks at the top need to answer for their crimes as Madoff does. Thanks!

Patricia Blount

Savanna, IL

Farmers Not Heeding the Bible

Have you ever wondered why many farmers who claim to believe the Bible so vigorously disobey it when it comes to crop and livestock management?

For instance, regarding crops, Exodus 23:10 tells us "and six years thou shalt sow the land and gather the fruits thereof, but the 7th year thou shall let it rest and lie still...etc."

Few farmers practice this because they claim they can't afford to. However, their land never has a chance to replenish naturally and produces poor devitalized crops. The Earth Summit Report stated, "The levels of soil based minerals in North America have dropped 85% in the last 100 years."

Scientists who should know better convinced farmers that only three elements: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, were all the soil needed for supplementation. However, humans and livestock need 60 minerals for optimum health not just the three elements farmers add to the soil. Subsequently, all fruits, vegetables, and grains grown in America have little nutritional value. And these mineral deficient plants are more prone to attack from insects and disease. Modern science's remedy? Use more chemicals very toxic to humans or genetically modify the plant. For the uninformed, GM plants have foreign genes forced into their DNA that allow them to withstand otherwise deadly doses of weed killer or insect invasion.

What scientists don't tell you, however, is that GM organisms have been liked to toxic and allergic reactions, thousands of sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ and system studied in lab animals.

Concerning animal management, Proverbs 12:10 states, "A righteous man regards the life of his beast." (Or welfare of the beast.) When cattle are inhumanely housed 24 hours a day and not allowed to free range on vigorous live grasses they are much more susceptible to disease and must receive medication that lingers in the meat and is passed on to humans. 70% of American cattle are treated with growth hormones, some of which promote cancer according to Dr. Hulse, M.D.

It is ludicrous to believe that commercial cattle feed can even come close to enzyme-rich grasses grown in soil supplemented with multi-minerals. It has been demonstrated time and again that free-range dairy cows produce a far superior milk than constantly housed animals whose product is polluted with hormones and medication to combat disease. Additionally, commercial feed has been further compromised by adding ground-up animal parts to it.

Mad Cow Disease was a sorry result of this practice. It was first found in Britain where over a million animals have been slaughtered to stop its spread. Over time, it has been found in America and Canada and is the reason Japan and other countries have refused our beef exports in the past. Government agencies deny this disease is a problem in America, but how would they know since they only inspect one percent of all carcasses? Doctors have discovered that the prion present in Mad Cow Disease is very similar to that found in humans with Alzheimer's.

God warns us time and again in Scripture not to ignore His commandments and His natural laws of nature which were put in place for our own good.

But determined to prove we are self-sufficient and don't need a God to help us through life, we ignored Him and tuned in TV talking heads and college professors and made them our final authority.

And when cancer deaths became almost epidemic and health care costs went through the roof we gasped in amazement, still not accepting that modern science could have blundered and that a devitalized, contaminated food supply was a very big reason for this tragedy.

If there can be consolation to those who became victims, it is that someday small farmers, large corporations, and yes, those of us who knew the truth but did nothing, will have to answer for what has been proven so harmful to the consumer.

Ron Rendleman,

Chadwick, Illinois

Bagram AFB Says Thanks

The American Red Cross Northwest Illinois Chapter is pleased to announce its successful conclusion of the Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) Bagram Air Force Base Donation Campaign.

The Campaign, which officially ended June 5, sought items such as candy, cookies, granola bars, beef jerky, sundry, individual drink mix items and money for mailing from people in the 3-county area we serve.

Donations permitted the Chapter to send 26 boxes to the Red Cross Station's Canteen at Bagram AFB, in Afghanistan. According to Tom Smith, SAF Team Leader at Bagram, the donated items were a "big hit" with the troops and more donations were requested. Smith said the individual donor may only see a "small contribution" but the Red Cross team can "see the smiles and many thanks" given by the troops who benefitted from the campaign.

The ARCNIC will soon call upon the public again to aid the troops stationed overseas.

For now, we thank everyone for their generosity and their support of our inaugural Campaign effort, and in particular, for the invaluable assistance provided by Sullivan Foods.

Carol Risinger

Volunteer Coordinator

American Red Cross

Northwest Illinois Chapter

Out of Touch

In regards to a letter written by State Representative Jim Sacia, he wrote about how he likes going to county fairs in his district. I am glad for the people he bought livestock from; they will be our future agriculture leaders. But what about the people who cannot attend the county fairs because of budget cuts you helped pass? I know they would have liked to take their children to these fairs, but now they cannot because of loss of work, companies closing. I am also happy for the students who will get scholarship for school. Or will they get scholarships? With this new budget you helped pass many students who qualify will not be able to attend college. So, how can you promise these students that they will get scholarships when you do not know what the governor is going to do?

You talk about pain to go around, have you listened to a crying baby because the mother cannot feed her child, or a husband coming home from work and telling his wife, he lost his job and do not know how they are going to live, or why suicide rates are climbing in our state, or why a developmentally disabled person that has worked so long at a workshop, now has been told that the workshop is closing due to cuts, or why disabled veterans are not going to get the help they need or when a senior citizen gets told the daycare center she has been attending for many years is now going to close. I could go on with the facts that I have seen and observed.

But Mr. Sacia, you keep having a good time at all the county fairs.

Walter M. Johnson

Galena, IL

Capitol Report

By Jim Sacia, State Representative, 89th District

One of the many highlights of serving as your State Representative is, whenever possible, to attend the county fairs in the 89^th District. With great regret, due to our budgetary issues and being in Springfield, I missed the Jo Daviess County 4-H Fair in Elizabeth. I greatly enjoy the opportunity to bid on the livestock offered by our "Junior Ag Leaders of Tomorrow".

If attendance was down at the Stephenson County Fair, you wouldn't have known it in the packed livestock pavilion Saturday morning, as Rick Garnhart, Creighton Barker, Randy Filer and Tyler Lobdell auctioned off over one hundred 4-H projects. If you have never attended this spectacular event, you are missing something as the atmosphere becomes electric. I was fortunate enough to be the successful bidder on the rabbits of Matthew Bronkema, Paige Kerchner and Ethan Kerchner.

I missed a good buy on Haylee Endress' beef, but I was able to buy Melissa Daniels' sheep and Shelby Gahm's hog. I also ended up with the sheep of Leah Kuper. To the great credit of Sidney DeVries who donated his sheep, the proceeds will be used to re-establish the FFA program at Freeport High School. After spirited bidding my hand was the last one in the air as the successful bidder. All in all, the Stephenson County Jr. Livestock Association sale was certainly a success. I look forward to the junior livestock sales at the Ogle, Carroll, and Winnebago County Fairs as well.

It seems somewhat surreal to be back in the district and trying to get caught up on things. I am sure that is light I see at the end of the tunnel and not an oncoming train.

Thanks to my education committee which includes several school superintendents from the 89^th District who did the selection, we were able to notify our eight scholarship winners. Each of these young men and women, thanks to their tenacity and work ethic, were chosen as the recipients. They will each receive a one-year tuition scholarship at their choice of any Illinois public university. I would like to offer congratulations to: Eric Turman of Dakota, Danielle Flack of Freeport, Kevin Bradt of River Ridge, Kelsey Osterloo of Forreston, Kirk Engelkens of Milledgeville, Katherine Castree of Pecatonica, Michelle Tregloan of Freeport, and Matthew Murphy of Galena.

I will continue to uphold a promise I made eight years ago to personally offer three scholarships a year to Highland College, that announcement will be made later this summer by Highland.

Many questions remain regarding our recently passed state budget. Regretfully, there is more than enough pain to go around. As we get answers we will share them.

As always, you can reach me, Sally or Barb at 815/232-0774 or e-mail us at jimsacia@aeroinc.net. You can also visit my website at www.jimsacia.com. It's always a pleasure to hear from you.

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