Day: October 16, 2013

At Julian Oct 9, Part 3: Unfunded mandates, state aid, the TIF

Oak Park Chronicles

Cutting to the chase (cliche alert), consider the telling (tell-tale?) points made by the four legislators at Julian Oct. 9, for not quite a closing to this tale of citizen involvement. (For Part One of the tale, go here. For Part two, here.)

 

Funding of state mandates: Depends on how you define mandate, said Sen. Lightford, a champion of compulsory schooling (and incidentally a mocker of home schooling). Compelling attendance raises cost of kindergarten, for instance. “It became very popular” to raise such costs as unfunded. She’s “lukewarm” about the problem, likes a “happy-medium” solution, she said.

Sen. Harmon draws the line at “significant” added costs, he said. Not wanting to put the questioner — one of three from CLAIM — “on the spot,” he asked for examples. She turned to ask the superintendent, who may have stepped out and in any case was not…

View original post 562 more words

Obama vs. raising debt limit

President Awful as a senator, when he had the hated Bush to rail against:

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America ‘s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America ‘s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, “the buck stops here”. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better“. –U.S. Senator Barack H. Obama, March 16, 2006

Half a man, he. A stick figure.