“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”
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Author: Redactor
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Joan of Arc born
On Jan. 6, 1412, Joan of Arc, the French military figure and Roman Catholic Saint, was born.
On Jan. 6, 1929, Mother Teresa arrived in Calcutta, India, and began begin her work among India’s poor and sick.
On Jan. 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his “Four Freedoms” speech in the State of the Union address.
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Illinois: Ill and Annoyed
Yesterday, I talked about pension rip-offs in Illinois and the particularly outrageous case of a lobbyist who spiked his pension benefits by perhaps a million dollars over the course of his lifetime by working as a substitute teacher for … one … single … day.
Steven Preckwinkle, the political director of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, earned only $93 in actual pay for that day’s work, but was able to snag a more lucrative lifetime teacher’s pension, yet based on his pay as a lobbyist, which would make it twice as generous as the average teacher’s take.
All this through a luxurious loophole in legislation Preckwinkle lobbied the legislature to enact.
Come to find out that Preckwinkle’s pension play isn’t the only way he’s cashed in on state taxpayers. Illinois has a controversial program whereby legislators get to personally hand out a couple of college scholarships to constituents each year.
You guessed it. Two of Preckwinkle’s children — and a nephew — were awarded money to cover their college cost.
Perhaps it’s all a coincidence, eh?
Surely State Rep. Mike Curran (D‑Springfield) didn’t allow the contributions he received from Preckwinkle and his union, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, to influence his decision. When Curran left the legislature, he went to work for the Preckwinkle’s union as a consultant.
Can’t friends help friends? On the taxpayers’ tab?
They can in the Land of Larceny.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Prague Spring
On Jan. 5, 1968, the “Prague Spring” began as Alexander Dubcek became ruler of Czechoslovakia and instituted political and economic reforms, including increased freedom of speech and the rehabilitation of political dissidents. In August, the Soviet Union ended Dubcek’s reforms by marching 600,000 Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia.
On Jan. 5, 1970, the bodies of dissident union leader Jock Yablonski, his wife, and daughter were discovered, murdered by killers hired by the United Mine Workers (UMW) union leadership. Jock Yablonski had run against UMW President Tony Boyle in the 1969 union leadership election and, after losing to Boyle, Yablonski asked the Labor Department to investigate for fraud. The murder investigation ended in nine convictions, including union leader Tony Boyle.
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P.J. O’Rourke
“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”
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Thomas Jefferson, 1785
“My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy.”