His meeting with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., having concluded, President Obama came to the White House briefing room this evening to report “additional progress” had been made and “differences have been narrowed.”

But outstanding issues remain, he cautioned, ones so important – to both sides – the president said he wouldn’t express “wild optimism” that there will be a deal.

Democratic sources tell ABC News that things “feel better now” in terms of a deal being cut, but the major sticking point remains the GOP rider prohibiting any federal funding to Planned Parenthood or any of its affiliates.

…“The stickiest issue will end up being Planned Parenthood.”

The House voted earlier this year to de-fund Planned Parenthood but 41 Democrats in the Senate already have said they would not support legislation ending funding to Planned Parenthood, making the matter one that could be filibustered. The White House has said the president would not agree to any ban on funding to Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood is already prohibited from using any federal funds for abortion-related services. Officials of the organization say more than 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood clinics do has nothing to do with abortion, but rather focuses on women’s health services such as pap smears and breast cancer screening.

Abortion opponents say federal funding for other services means money freed up for the purposes of conducting abortions, which they regard as ending human life.

The claim that the bulk of Planned Parenthood’s operation is not abortion is simply a lie. A boldfaced, easily disproved lie. And it’s also been proved that they don’t do breast cancer screenings, either, but they’re still harping on that one as well.

That President Obama would take this to the brink to protect Planned Parenthood comes as no surprise. This is the most pro-abortion president in history.

(Cross posted from the Northern Illinois Patriots blog.)

Illinois’ premier pro-abortion activist, Terry Cosgrove, Executive Director of Personal PAC, claims credit for electing Democrat Pat Quinn as Illinois Governor last November, and well he might. His organization’s vile, lying, misleading and mean-spirited ads, mailings and calls slandered Republican Bill Brady — and many other candidates besides.

Is Governor Quinn grateful? You bet your sweet bippy!

Last week, Governor Pat Quinn nominated abortion rights leader Terry Cosgrove to fill an opening on Illinois’ Human Rights Commission. Next Thursday, Cosgrove’s nomination will be heard before the Senate Executive Appointments Committee.

Cosgrove, the 58 year old CEO of Personal PAC, plans to continue directing his pro-abortion political action committee while he serves part-time on the commission. Personal PAC’s generous $400,000 campaign donation to Governor Quinn’s campaign in 2010 is stirring another round of Quinn “pay to play” buzz.

Cosgrove’s Facebook photo (right) is pretty indicative of his pro-Quinn, anti-Brady partiality in the 2010 governor’s race. You’ve got to wonder how impartial he’d be voting on the Human Rights Commission, don’t you?

Certainly, no one could reasonably hope that Cosgrove would support human rights for all humans. Cosgrove’s vision of “human rights” is something that mere humanity doesn’t qualify you for.

And Quinn’s vision of public service is something that mere public service isn’t a qualification for. In both cases, something… extra is required.

And, oh yeah, this is the same guy who sent out this mailing about me during my campaign in a Republican primary.

(Cross-posted from Thoughts of a Regular Guy.)

In the past year, CCSD #46 has gone through 5 business managers, one of whom was not properly vetted for the position. It was not until after he was hired, that the district learned of his litigation with another school district in Wisconsin. Now, there is additional consideration of litigation against Grayslake. “This type of poor, not well thought out decision making, harms all of us. Unnecessary litigation costs redirect money that should be spent in our schools educating our children,” said Carbone.

However, this is not the only questionable hiring made by the school board. Carbone led the efforts to expose the nepotistic hiring of school board president Mary Garcia’s husband for a job, which otherwise would have gone unnoticed.

In November, Garcia’s husband was hired for a custodial position with the district, as well as coach for several sports teams. At the time that his paperwork was before the board, Ms. Garcia recused herself from the vote. But she never openly admitted that her husband’s application was among the stack of applicants. Carbone questions her decision. “In this economy, the district receives hundreds of applications for every job posting. What makes her husband the most qualified candidate and does his hiring really support the needs of our children and this district?”

Now others in the community are looking closer. Many are wondering how Garcia’s husband can work as both custodian, Tuesday through Saturday as required by his contract, and still get paid for a coaching position which often requires him to work on Saturdays. This conflict of schedules causes the custodial department to find a sub for Garcia on the weekends. Community activists are now trying to determine if Garcia’s pay was docked for the days not worked or if the District paid both Garcia and his fill-in for those days, while still paying him a full stipend to act as coach.

As a current board member Michael Carbone cannot endorse any specific candidate. However, he has been quoted as saying “This year is an election year. It is time for new blood on the Grayslake School Board. We need people on the Board that realize we are servants of the public and not the other way around.”

There are currently three seats open on the CCSD 46 school board. The three newcomers recently endorsed on March 17th 2011 by the Daily Herald are Kip Evans, Marchell Norris and Shannon Smigielski. All three have shown a dedication and involvement in the school board.

Marchell Norris, a private business owner of 15 years with an MBA from the University Of Notre Dome, believes her strong business background coupled with Evans’s knowledge of the inner workings of school systems can help shape a new vision for Grayslake.

Kip Evans is a retired teacher of 33 years. He has taught grades K through 12 in his career and also has an Administrative Degree from Roosevelt University. While not officially in a slate, Evans is leveraging resources with Norris to get the word out about their campaign.

Currently, 68% of property taxes in Grayslake are allocated to school budgets. It is more important than ever to ensure that school budgets allow for the funding of quality education, while being ever vigilant to root out corruption and waste. In 2011, an individual in CCSD received a 14% pay increase, which equated to $27,000 raise.

In this economy we cannot continue to ask American families to shoulder the burden of wasteful government.

(Cross-posted from For the Good of Illinois.)

I’m currently reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged for the first time, in which the producers in an unspecified future America go “on strike”, disappear, and refuse to produce because of government over-regulation making it impossible to run their businesses efficiently or effectively. Written over 50 years ago, Atlas Shrugged seems remarkably prescient in many respects. So I couldn’t help thinking of it when I heard that Caterpillar may leave Illinois (H/T: Illinois Review):

The chief executive of Caterpillar wrote a letter to Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn raising the possibility the heavy equipment company could move out of Illinois because of concerns that the direction the state is heading isn’t favorable to business.

In a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn obtained Friday by The Pantagraph of Bloomington, Doug Oberhelman said officials in at least four states have approached Peoria-based Caterpillar about relocating since Illinois raised its income tax in January.

“I want to stay here. But as the leader of this business, I have to do what’s right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest,” Oberhelman wrote. “The direction that this state is headed in is not favorable to business, and I’d like to work with you to change that.”

Oberhelman wrote he has been called, cornered in meetings and wined and dined. He said he had never considered living anywhere else or the possibility of Caterpillar relocating.

“But I have to admit, the policymakers in Springfield seem to make it harder by the day,” he wrote.

Quinn spokeswoman Brie Callahan said Friday the governor plans to discuss the letter with Oberhelman on April 5 when the two meet at a conference in Peoria.

“The governor welcomes frank and open exchanges between the business community and government, and we are always open to new ideas that can help our businesses grow, innovate and create jobs,” Callahan told the Pantagraph.

Along with the letter to Quinn, Oberhelman sent correspondence the company has received from leaders of South Dakota and Nebraska.

“I stand ready to help convince you to relocate or expand in the fiscally conservative, low-tax Lone Star State,” wrote Texas Gov. Rick Perry in a Jan. 24 letter.

Caterpillar spokesman Jim Dugan tells The Pantagraph the letter shows Quinn that Oberhelman wants to be involved in finding solutions that benefit the company, which employs 23,000 people in Illinois.

“I view it as an olive branch to offer our help,” Dugan said.

While Oberhelman didn’t single out a specific problem with Illinois’ policies, Dugan said the recent income tax increase was major factor triggering the note. [Emphasis added.]

Illinois taxpayers, both individuals and corporations, are viewed in Springfield as milch cows, serfs tied to the land who must work and give as much of what they produce to the state as the legislature may demand. But people are streaming out of Illinois in droves. Former State Senator Roger Keats, recently a candidate for Cook County Board president, recently announced that he and his wife were moving to Dripping Springs, Texas (a lovely place near Austin, I can assure you). It takes longer for a major corporation like Caterpillar to pull up stakes and go, but they can and will go eventually.

The Democrats running Springfield — and yes, a few Republicans, too — are really a piece of work. They lie to get into office, they raise taxes, they over-regulate, they are looters and pirates who are not above any scam to rake off the productivity of Illinoisans and pocket the proceeds.

What can be done to stop the flow of red ink? Who is John Galt?

Michael Carbone

When my friend, fellow parishioner and fellow Knight of Columbus Michael Carbone, a member of the Grayslake School District #46 School Board was censured by the unanimous vote of his fellow board members this past Wednesday, what was the real reason?

Follow the money.

D46 board president, Mary Garcia, who is also the president of the local teachers’ union in another district, together with her cronies on the board, doesn’t like it when Michael Carbone, who has made it his practice over the past two years to uncover poor spending practices, and worked to bring accountability and transparency to board operations, sheds light on her shenanigans.

Follow the money.

When Michael Linder resigned from his unpaid position as a board member to take a job as a part-time consultant at $75,000 per year, Michael Carbone led the objections.

Follow the money.

When the board spent thousands to send staffers to Disney World for a conference, Michael Carbone was asking why.

Follow the money.

And when Mary Garcia hired her husband to work for the district as a janitor on the public payroll, Carbone was the first to question the process.

After all, with the economy as it is, with over 10% unemployment in Lake County and fifty applicants for every advertised job, just what was it, other than his relationship to the school board president, that made Robert Garcia stand out? Was he so highly recommended by his previous employers? In fact, if he was such a very good employee in his prior jobs, just why was it he was unemployed? Don’t get me wrong, many good people are un- or under-employed these days, for completely honest reasons. I’d just like to know how we came to the coincidence that Mary Garcia’s husband just happened to be the very best candidate for the job with the organization of which his wife is the head, but not for any of the other jobs he’d doubtless applied for.

There’s a word for this.

The word is nepotism. And in this instance, it means using taxpayer money to do favors for your friends and family. Or yourself.

Mary Garcia and her union cronies don’t understand that taxpayer money isn’t theirs to dole out as largesse to their favored recipients.

Michael Carbone does understand this, and that’s why they made up a series of lies about him, and publicly defamed him with a censure resolution that’s made national news.

Mary Garcia and one of her cronies are up for re-election in less than three weeks. Linder’s appointed replacement will likewise be leaving the board. I have to second the endorsement of the local paper for all three challengers to these seats to be elected, and I hope that with Michael Carbone, they will form a new majority who will bring some fiscal accountability to this school board.

So, as I told the board on Wednesday, I’m glad they chose this week to make such a statement of contempt for the taxpayers, and the one man on that board who represents our interests.

I was at that meeting, and was first in the public comments:

Some of those comments were attributed to me in this report as well.

If you thought Roland Burris was a harmless lame duck filling Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat until next January, you were mistaken. Burris has taken advantage of his lack of accountability to try and overturn a longstanding military policy that would cause U.S. taxpayers to pay for military abortions — both overseas and in the states. Thursday, Burris’ amendment striking the current restriction on military abortions passed out of U.S. Senate Armed Service Committee in a 15 to 12 vote.

If Burris’ amendment becomes law, all military medical facilities will be required to provide unrestricted abortions, including for the purposes of sex selection as well as anytime in the pregnancy, from conception to baby’s birth.

Mississippi Senator Wicker led the discussion in opposition to Burris amendment:

The committee yesterday decided to reverse this long-standing policy and to say that indeed abortions, for whatever reason, will be performed in these facilities that are paid for by taxpayer expense that are there for the care of our service members to keep them healthy and to repair their injuries. We’re going to use those facilities for elective abortions. If this amendment stands — and I guarantee you it will be challenged on the floor of the House and Senate, with separate amendments — Members will be given a chance to vote on this separate issue.

But if this stands, our military installations, Fort Bragg, Columbus Air Force Base, Keesler Air Force Base in my home state of Mississippi, their medical facilities will be able to be used for abortions, performed late term, abortions performed for purposes of sex selection, abortions performed for any reason. Abortion-at-will will be the requirement for our military installations and the medical facilities on those installations.

Senator Burris’ website provides a response section here. Let him know what you think — after all, he still represents Illinoisans, whether he acknowledges it or not.

Tell me again how “no one is pro-abortion.” This guy certainly is.

(Cross-posted from Lake County Right to Life Blog.)

Paul: The door to door campaigning went well yesterday with our group of young people from the parish – seventeen young people in all – braved to cold temperatures ito campaign in precinct 304. All the the young people were happy to help but our most enthusiastic volunteer was a 10 year old named Michael. Michael has Down Syndrome – I noticed right away expressions softening as he smiled and offered your campaign literature. With no words at all he made a stronger pro-life statement than anything I could have said!
Sandra Dempsey, MD

Sandy Cole Supporters attack GOP candidates for Governor, Congress, State House

When voters in the 62nd District received a late mailer from Personal PAC on behalf of Sandy Cole for State Representative, they were told ominously that her challenger in Tuesday’s Republican primary, Paul Mitchell, had a 100% rating from the Illinois Federation for Right to Life (IFRL).

The mailer, apparently sent only to female names in the district, boldly announces “Personal PAC Urges You to Vote NO ON PAUL MITCHELL.”

The Mitchell campaign hopes that Sandy’s friends aren’t painting with too broad a brush: Republican gubernatorial candidates Jim Ryan, Kirk Dillard, Bill Brady, Adam Andrejewski, and Dan Proft, as well as Republican 8th District Congressional candidates Maria Rodriguez and Joe Walsh, have all likewise been given 100% ratings from the IFRL.

No fewer than eighteen Republican candidates for statewide or legislative positions in Lake County have been rated 100% by IFRL, also including U.S. Senate candidates John Arrington and Patrick Hughes, Lt. Governor candidates Dennis Cook, Jason Plummer and Randy White, as well as Treasurer candidate Dan Rutherford, Comptroller candidate William Kelly, State Representative candidates Cynthia Hebda, Dan Sugrue, and incumbent State Representative Jo Ann Osmond.

“I’m proud to be among such honorable Republican company as these people,” says Mitchell, “and I wonder why Sandy Cole wouldn’t be. Perhaps she’d be more at home in a another party, one that doesn’t have a pro-life platform and leaders who are proud of their pro-life positions.”

Incumbent Rep. Sandy Cole, who has a perfect pro-abortion voting record, has often been the beneficiary of financial and in-kind support from Personal PAC, and local voters have seen such mailers before on behalf of 8th District Congresswoman Melissa Bean, a Democrat.

Mitchell’s campaign slogan is, “Running ON the Republican platform, and not away from it.” Said Mitchell, “I’m little hurt that they didn’t also mention that I’m recommended by Illinois Citizens for Life, and endorsed by Family-PAC, Illinois Citizens for Ethics, and Eagle Forum of Illinois, which are all also pro-life organizations. Still, I’m grateful to Personal PAC for this opportunity to highlight an important distinction between Mrs. Cole and myself. I am in step with the Republican Party, and she is not.”

Contact:
Lynn Thomas

http://paulfor62.com

caoilfhionn1@gmail.com
630-219-0126