CapitolFax.com - Latest Comments in Question of the day

Re: Question of the day

Disallusioned — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:25:08 -0000

Rockford will never be the same without Zeke Giorgi. Lame, just not the same. All the area legislators together can't deliver what he could in his sleep!

Re: Question of the day

Downstater — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:33:48 -0000

Sangamon County:
I love the line about wind and solar power! It we just had forced Henry Ford to build only battery power or steam engine cars, we could have avoided this as well.

It must be great to drive the bus, while looking out the back window!

Re: Question of the day

Downstater — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:32:18 -0000

Sangamon County:

Here's just a brief snippet from one article: Forest Service's controlled burns draw fire
Posted Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 10:28 pm

By Raju Chebium
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

A Forest Service employee uses a drip torch along a control line to ignite a prescribed burn in the Cherokee National Forest.The Forest Service says the low-intensity fires helps dwindling tree species survive by giving them room to multiply.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail this story

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON â€” The government burns too many acres of national forests in the southern Appalachians, environmentalists say, rejecting a view that large fires help keep the wilderness healthy.
Old U.S. Forest Service records an employee found recently prove that the agency is overzealously carrying out what are called controlled or prescribed burns, critics say. They also accuse the government of suppressing the data because it contradicts official fire policy.

The Forest Service argues that carefully set and monitored fires help dwindling tree species survive by giving them room to multiply.

Re: Question of the day

Sangamon County — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:26:15 -0000

And another thing downstater. If we had really listened to the "leftists" we'd have plenty of clean energy from wind and solar by now. Blame your friends in the Coal industry for the lack of state support for clean energy.

Re: Question of the day

Sangamon County — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:20:44 -0000

Downstater, I see you didn't respond to any of my points and chose to change the issue. You're sounding more like a talk radio host all the time. I'll take your lack of a response to the burning issue as an admission that you're wrong.
You have a funny idea of "clean" energy. Nuclear waste doesn't sound very clean to most people.

Re: Question of the day

Downstater — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:22:00 -0000

Little Egypt:
You do realize that the animals you mentioned not inhabiting Southern, Illinois also don't inhabit ANWR. There's little or no vegitation there for them to live off of.

Even if penquins did inhabit ANWR, why would Durbin be more concerned about their interests than those of college students in Mattoon, who have an oil well less than 1/4 mile from their classes?
And don't cite the cold conditions of ANWR as the excuse. The US and Britain have been drilling in far worse conditions than ANWR for decades. Do you think drilling in the North Sea is inherently safer than drilling on the frozen tundra of ANWR?

Re: Question of the day

Anon — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:43:59 -0000

Ravenswood Right Winger

Rep Larry McKeon resigned after the 2006 primary and supported another candidate other than Greg Harris to be appointed. McKeon beat the Chicago machine in 1996 and remained independent of the machine for 10 years.

The machine took the seat back with the appointment of Harris.

Re: Question of the day

hatter,mad — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:47:23 -0000

Blago 0 - Beam me up Scotty!
Durbin 5 - Play big or go home.
Obama 9 - Mr. President?
Hare 3 - Which way does the wind blowing?
Jacobs 8 - Widely quoted. Rising stock.
Boland -1 - Somebody helps us.
Lack 5 - Better than Boland.

Re: Question of the day

There you go again — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:35:15 -0000

Durbin - 9 Works downstate hard

Obama - 5 Juries out, but he's got tremendous talent.

Hare - 7.5 Exceeding expectations in Western IL

Mike Jacobs - 7.5 Backbone. Stands up.

Mike Boland - 4.5 Ready to run statewide.

Pat Verschoore - 7.5 Pretty solid. Works hard.

Re: Question of the day

Springfield Guy — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:30:40 -0000

Poe: 3 Never a leader on any issue even when the GOP had the gov's office and GA. Always carrying the water for AFSCME. Never seen a state agency he didn't think needed more staff.

Bomke 7: Works hard, responds to his voter but like Poe, loves state jobs and thinks we more.

Re: Question of the day

GlenEllyner — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:48:17 -0000

Pihos - 0.0 - Absolutely worthless legislator. I would love to know what she has done for our District
Cronin - 6 - Kind of effective. This coming year will tell a lot about his service.
Obama - 1 - I like the man but we elected him to be a US Senator...not a candidate.
Durbin - 8 - Don't like the man but think that he has Illinois' best interest at heart and works for our state.
Roskam - 2 - meh. Too early to tell but I'm not a big fan.

Re: Question of the day

Little Egypt — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:38:50 -0000

Downstater - I can think of a couple of differences in ANWR and Southern Illinois. It's been a month of Sundays and then some since I've seen any caribou, polar bears, or penguins south of I-80.

Re: Question of the day

MadCoMan — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:26:43 -0000

Frank Watson--8 good man, disagree with on lot of issues

Re: Question of the day

kj — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:30:40 -0000

Boland 4 -Does he even go to work
Jacobs 6 - Hot Head
Hare - 9 - Work with education=great
Durbin 9 - Brings home the bacon
Obama - 8 - Will do great as President...done well as Senator!

Re: Question of the day

Downstater — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:53:37 -0000

Sangamon County: Nice try attempting to put my arguments into a tight little box.

First of all, I have more than 15 years experience in the Southern Illinois Oil Industry.
Second, my info on ANWR comes from my visits to Alaska, and my friends visits to ANWR.

The leftist were just as effective at smearing the Nucler industry, as they were the timber industry. Remembr the 80's when a "safe" nuclear power plant couldn't built, just because the left said so? All the while, we placated the leftist wackos, France went merrily along building a safe infrastructure for powering 1/2 of their country's energy needs. The US was left woefully behind.

I sat in the hearings in Martinsville, IL, where the lefty "expert" railed against any form of storage system for nuclear waste in that county. In the end, he admitted there wasn't one place in the US that he thought was safe for nuclear storage.

So, while we danced to the leftist tune for almost 30 years on issues of nuclear plants, today we find ourselves completely unprepared to offer affordable, clean energy to the country.

I didn't learn this by listening to talk radio....I lived it.

Re: Question of the day

Senor Senador — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:22:46 -0000

0 for Sandoval...comes across as to pompous and only cares about cicero/berwyn. Plus he is an HDO hack even though he will deny it. Marty, we know where you come from. Get in my belly!!!

5 for D.Burke...indifferent, havent really seen or heard from him

0 for lil' LIP...backdoor shenanigans in getting into office lost ALOT of credibility. His current discoveries are going to dip him below the zero mark.

Re: Question of the day

Rod sez I'm pork — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:00:53 -0000

Lang - 3 Sound and fury signifying exactly what?
Silverstein - 4 A nice boy. A bit of a schlmeil. Should spell check.
Durbin - 6 Seems to be a man of integrity, but could flex his cojones muscle a bit more.
Obama - 5 I love the man, although since running for Prez, he is less of a senator and more a candidate.

Re: Question of the day

zatoichi — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:03:58 -0000

Jim Watsonâ€“9â€“He has said from day one that you have to live within a budget and plan for the future not let it go to another day. I like the guy. Hopefully he sticks around and develops some clout.

Deanna Demuzioâ€“8 Like her too. Yeah she is not Vince, but watched her show up at several rallies at Capitol to override veto. Don't see her as a shill for Jones. She is at least willing to talk and consider your ideas.

Ray LaHoodâ€“7 He is OK. Seems like your standard pro political (parades, fly ins, Kiwanis, etc.). Has done some very good things for his area and has not made any huge mistakes. I do agree with the lame duck comment for right now.

Richard Durbinâ€“7 Speaks what he thinks and has plenty of pull. Seems like a decent guy who does most stuff behind the scene. Met him a couple of times. Like his views on Iraq.

Barack Obamaâ€“3 Wish he would do something besides give speeches and actually do real work for Illinois. Has not earned the varsity jacket yet. Think he has the potential, but right now he seems to enjoy his reflection from the crowd and it is wearing thin. Needs some substantial accomplishments that show weight behind the thoughts/statements.

Re: Question of the day

Sangamon County — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:59:38 -0000

Downstater, your talk radio fueled anger against environmentalists is out of touch with reality.

Environmentalists I know generally support controlled burns. Do you have a source that proves otherwise other than Fox "news" or whatever talk show host you listen to? Environmentalists were warning that lack of controlled burns was going to become a problem years ago.

I strongly encourage you to do some actual research to learn why drilling in ANWR is a very different issue than drilling in Southern Illinois. You might learn why its such a bad idea and how little we would benefit from it.

Re: Question of the day

Anon sequitor — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:43:55 -0000

Roskam - 4.9 He is the typical bland Suburban Republican who does just enough to be elected, but not enough to be significant. His staff is very average too so I'll have to give an almost perfect average grade. We can't all be Lake Wobegon.

Hultgren - 4.8 He is following the Roskam model thus his slightly lower grade.

Fortner - 7 I like Mike. Mike is "approachable" which is VIP in my book. The Professor's Fermilab and local government background seem to combine well with his job as State Rep. As a result, he is an excellent representative of his district.

Re: Question of the day

Trafficmatt — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:38:49 -0000

My Representative is Hastert

9 over the last 10 years. He has done a lot for the District and overall I think he has been fairly representative of the views of the District. In the last year, he has been closer to a 6 just because he has become somewhat of a lame duck

Durbin: 1 - He has spent far more time playing politics and trying to get on camera than he has working for the state. His comments about the troops have been an embarrassment.

Obama: 3 - I think he has tried to do well as a freshman congressman. However, the presidential election has been a huge distraction. Not sure a lot is getting done for the state at this point.

Re: Question of the day

Anon for this one — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:15:03 -0000

Sommer: 0 Where is he? What does he do? Very much a back bench guy, he only puts up 3 bills/yr. Mention his name in the State House and people say "Who's that?"

Sen. Rutherford: 7-8 Good guy, very responsive to constituent needs. Would rate him higher, but he's got an R by his name.

Rep. Weller: 10 for Central America, 2 for the district. He shows up for photo ops, but hasn't been much help to residents. Takes credit for grants when he didn't help get them.

Durbin: 10 Great service, willing to be out front even when it's not popular, very accessible.

Obama: 5-10 When the rock star thing settles down we'll know for sure.

Madigan & Jones: 2(qualified) They might be fine for their districts, but most of us don't get to vote for them. They have too much power over the agenda.

Re: Question of the day

Niles Township — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:03:42 -0000

-Coulson: 9; GOPer who does well in district that should be rep'd by a Dem. It tells you something.
-Schoenberg: 8; He'd score higher in my book if he wasn't so tied to the hip of Jan Schakowsky's organization.
-Schakowsky: 5; if she spent more time on policy and less on party politics maybe she'd score better.
-Durbin: 4; same statement as Schakowsky above, but I still think he wouldn't score so high.
-Obama: Incomplete; ran for president before he did a thing as senator. Big mistake. A great orator does not make necessarily make a great president.

Re: Question of the day

Rich Miller — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:43:27 -0000

anon 3:28 pm. Are you referring to this blog? Because I just did a search for your IP address and came up empty, including the deleted archives. You must be banned on another IP address. I guess I'll have to update the banned list.

Re: Question of the day

Downstate weed chewing hick — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:35:12 -0000

Bill Black (R) Danville-10. Wil there be anyone left in Springfield to openly admit the total mess things are in in both parties when he retires.