US Flag
United We Stand!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is wading into the deep end of the pool again.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is wading into the deep end of the pool again. “Just a week or so after suggesting that Illinois maybe should begin taxing some retirement income, the Chicago Democrat indicated he could support three other equally controversial ideas: requiring suburban school districts to pay more of the cost of teacher pensions, trimming free health care for retired state workers and eliminating many township governments.”
http://tinyurl.com/4889dlt
Sunday, March 27, 2011
York PC 112: The Desperate Need For Precinct Committeemen (Or Persons, Captains, or Equivalent)
All across the country, the most basic element of our Democratic Party infrastructure is in a state of chronic shortage; the precinct-level representative.
The office is unpaid in most cases. You have to be elected in most cases. You have to walk your Precinct and drop off literature to its voters advising them who your candidates are. You're only a household name in a few houses near yours. People might look at you a little sideways for taking this on. "Why?" they may ask.
Because of many reasons. I'm going to start writing a note a day about reasons why I became a Committee-whatever. I'll call it "Why I'm a PC: Reason of the day."
Let's start with this one: getting to know your neighbors.
These days, it seems like few of us know the people who live around us are. Do they care about anything? Do they need help with anything? What are their talents, hobbies, hopes, and dreams? Have they just moved in, are they moving out, have they lived here for years? What neat little neighborhood things might they know that I don't? What is the most local of local history? Is there a hidden path or trail I don't know? Community garden plots? A little park that could use fixing or cleaning? Great recipes in their family? Local artists, craftsmen, or musicians?
Being a Precinct Whatever can give you a chance to find some of those things out. It also can give you a chance to help build a sense of local community. It doesn't have to be just politics - that's just your minimum function.
I want to get better at this. I think this part of it is key.
Food for thought, hmm?
All the best,
Dan
The office is unpaid in most cases. You have to be elected in most cases. You have to walk your Precinct and drop off literature to its voters advising them who your candidates are. You're only a household name in a few houses near yours. People might look at you a little sideways for taking this on. "Why?" they may ask.
Because of many reasons. I'm going to start writing a note a day about reasons why I became a Committee-whatever. I'll call it "Why I'm a PC: Reason of the day."
Let's start with this one: getting to know your neighbors.
These days, it seems like few of us know the people who live around us are. Do they care about anything? Do they need help with anything? What are their talents, hobbies, hopes, and dreams? Have they just moved in, are they moving out, have they lived here for years? What neat little neighborhood things might they know that I don't? What is the most local of local history? Is there a hidden path or trail I don't know? Community garden plots? A little park that could use fixing or cleaning? Great recipes in their family? Local artists, craftsmen, or musicians?
Being a Precinct Whatever can give you a chance to find some of those things out. It also can give you a chance to help build a sense of local community. It doesn't have to be just politics - that's just your minimum function.
I want to get better at this. I think this part of it is key.
Food for thought, hmm?
All the best,
Dan
Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday named a former longtime Chicago police officer to head the Illinois State Police
Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday named a former longtime Chicago police officer to head the Illinois State Police, one of several high-level staff changes as the governor settles into his first full term in office. “Quinn also appointed a high-ranking union official to oversee the Department of Labor, naming Joe Costigan as director of the agency that oversees wages and working conditions. Costigan serves as the serves as the secretary and treasurer of Workers United, which is part of the Service Employees International Union. Costigan is a former vice president of the Illinois AFL-CIO. Both unions supported Quinn during last year's election, with the AFL-CIO donating $60,000 to Quinn's campaign and national and local branches of SEIU contributing more than $2 million, according to state records.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-quinn-state-police-20110325,0,2499620.story
Saturday, March 26, 2011
I Was Just Reading About York Center Park District...
...on their web site at http://www.yorkcenterparks.org/ .
What a wonderful community asset!
They have several parks in the area, including Villa Roosevelt Park, which is in our Precinct. Their office is also in York 112. I'll have to stop in for a visit one morning.
The Park District also has numerous excellent programs and events throughout the year. I strongly encourage York 112 residents to visit them online! I'll be adding them to my links list soon.
Enjoy!
Dan
What a wonderful community asset!
They have several parks in the area, including Villa Roosevelt Park, which is in our Precinct. Their office is also in York 112. I'll have to stop in for a visit one morning.
The Park District also has numerous excellent programs and events throughout the year. I strongly encourage York 112 residents to visit them online! I'll be adding them to my links list soon.
Enjoy!
Dan
York PC 112: Hmm. We Have A Park In Our Precinct. I'm Thinking...
...have a late Spring gathering / festival at the small park in my Precinct, maybe in late May.
Maybe we could grill out together, a kind of "meet the neighbors" event. Nothing formal or partisan.
I'll make a visit to the park I'm thinking of, get its information, contact the Park District, and see what happens. If it can be done, it'll be a good excuse for me to walk my precinct again, now that my foot's starting to get better. (I fractured a piece of cartilage in my right ankle in January, but it's almost healed now.)
The park I'm thinking of is bordered by 14th & 15th Streets, 3rd street, and Luther Avenue. Google Map Satellite view: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=oak+brook+illinois+luther+ave+%26+15th+street&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
There looks to be parking for 24 vehicles in the park itself, but most of us could walk or bike there. Hmm. I can't get the name of the park on the sign in Google Street View, it's too blurred. Seems like one of those detail;s their little camera van should've paid attention to. You can see the sign, but not read it. There's a gazebo, playground, baseball diamond, and more there.
Maybe we could get some local talent to play music for us, or get some boom boxes at least.
If anyone has thoughts on this, click on my picture at the upper-right of this blog, or leave me a comment on this post.
This might be fun!
Dan
Maybe we could grill out together, a kind of "meet the neighbors" event. Nothing formal or partisan.
I'll make a visit to the park I'm thinking of, get its information, contact the Park District, and see what happens. If it can be done, it'll be a good excuse for me to walk my precinct again, now that my foot's starting to get better. (I fractured a piece of cartilage in my right ankle in January, but it's almost healed now.)
The park I'm thinking of is bordered by 14th & 15th Streets, 3rd street, and Luther Avenue. Google Map Satellite view: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=oak+brook+illinois+luther+ave+%26+15th+street&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
There looks to be parking for 24 vehicles in the park itself, but most of us could walk or bike there. Hmm. I can't get the name of the park on the sign in Google Street View, it's too blurred. Seems like one of those detail;s their little camera van should've paid attention to. You can see the sign, but not read it. There's a gazebo, playground, baseball diamond, and more there.
Maybe we could get some local talent to play music for us, or get some boom boxes at least.
If anyone has thoughts on this, click on my picture at the upper-right of this blog, or leave me a comment on this post.
This might be fun!
Dan
York PC 112: Green Net Chicago Gardening Classes and More!
http://www.greennetchicago.org/
April 30th, 10-2 at the Garfield Park Conservatory
Notes from Dan: Couldn't we use something like that around Oak Brook???
"GreenNet Is...
A coalition of nonprofit organizations and public agencies committed to sharing information and resources serving as a clearinghouse for information about greening in Chicago and developing joint efforts to improve the quality, amount, use, and wide geographic distribution of sustainable, green open space in the City of Chicago."Join GreenNet for the 19th annual
Green and Growing Fair
April 30th, 10-2 at the Garfield Park Conservatory
300 N. Central Park Ave. Chicago, IL
The fair will include gardening workshops, classes and demos, a silent auction and gardening book sale, plant and gardening supply vendors, exhibitors, food and live music, all in the beautiful setting of the conservatory. GreenNet will be unveiling it's new website and city-wide map of community gardens at this, its annual fund-raiser.
Notes from Dan: Couldn't we use something like that around Oak Brook???
York PC 112: 2011 Kids Matter Job Fair features 2,500 + Opportunities
http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/business/4488339-420/kidsmatter-job-fair-features-2500-opportunities.html
Note from Dan: Kids Matter has lots of resources for area Youth. Take a few minutes to give THEIR WEB SITE a look-over.
Note from Dan: Kids Matter has lots of resources for area Youth. Take a few minutes to give THEIR WEB SITE a look-over.
Naperville Sun: Hud Report casts More Doubt On DuPage Housing Authority
http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/news/4502352-418/hud-report-casts-more-doubt-on-county-housing-agency.html
Note from Dan: I don't know about your opinion on this, but to me it's another example of bad politicians running an agency that's supposed to help the community into the ground so they can say "Look, Government bad!" while at the same time, playing with public money. Can we get some different people running things around here yet???
Note from Dan: I don't know about your opinion on this, but to me it's another example of bad politicians running an agency that's supposed to help the community into the ground so they can say "Look, Government bad!" while at the same time, playing with public money. Can we get some different people running things around here yet???
GE's corporate tax bill: Zero
The company didn't pay any US taxes in 2010. In fact, it got a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. With video updates. Slogging through your taxes right now? Maybe you could hire someone from General Electric (GE) to help. The company has beaten Uncle Sam. It paid no U.S. taxes for 2010, The New York Times reported. In fact, it received a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. It's not that GE can claim poverty. The company rang up $14.2 billion in profits last year, including $5.1 billion from U.S. Operations. How did GE do it? Through what the Times describes as "innovative accounting" and fierce lobbying, GE has been cutting its tax bill for years. In a stroke of genius, it hired a former Treasury official to lead its tax department and filled its team with former IRS employees and Congressional tax specialists. The top corporate tax rate is supposed to be 35% -- one of the highest in the world. But few companies actually pay that rate, since there are myriad loopholes and other ways to get breaks. Now, the Times reports, only 6.6% of Uncle Sam's tax revenue comes from corporations (down from 30% in the 1950s).
http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=d715c70d-f0d0-4474-8223-2949588e90f6>1=33002
Note from Dan:
I have to say this makes me angry. With all the difficulties local governments are facing in funding, corporations are making billions of dollars and not paying a dime to help the common good through taxes. It is exactly this kind of behavior that is driving efforts to do things like putting RFID trackers in cars and pickup trucks to tax mileage on strapped Middle Class taxpayers.
http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=d715c70d-f0d0-4474-8223-2949588e90f6>1=33002
Note from Dan:
I have to say this makes me angry. With all the difficulties local governments are facing in funding, corporations are making billions of dollars and not paying a dime to help the common good through taxes. It is exactly this kind of behavior that is driving efforts to do things like putting RFID trackers in cars and pickup trucks to tax mileage on strapped Middle Class taxpayers.
COD program gives students international experience
“Spanish professor Sandy Anderson and her colleague, history professor John Paris, spoke to the COD board of trustees Thursday about the International Negotiations Module Project, a four-year-old program that trains COD students to navigate an increasingly interdependent world. “We just had a summit meeting today and it was very exciting,” Anderson said of a series of student discussions focused on a “super bug,” or one that is resistant to antibiotics. INMP dates only to 2007, when the idea was discovered at an academic seminar. Since then, it has grown to about 70 COD students. “We’ve seen steady growth,” Anderson said.”
http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/4488589-417/cod-program-gives-students-international-experience.html
Gov. Pat Quinn Gives Illinois Health Care Reform a Big, Fat Push Forward
Gov. Pat Quinn Gives Illinois Health Care Reform a Big, Fat Push Forward
“In 2010, the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated that President Barack Obama's new health reform would save the state budget $365 million over the next five years. In 2011, newly-inaugurated Tea Party Governor Scott Walker, despite a gaping budget deficit, ordered the state Attorney General to add Wisconsin to list of states suing in federal court to overturn the new health insurance law. And so it goes with our northern neighbor, whose governor is giving the term "crank" a good name by comparison. In Illinois, however, on the one-year anniversary of the new federal health law, Governor Pat Quinn has been blazing forward to implement its provisions. In fact, since taking office, Quinn has been on tear to reform Illinois health care more broadly.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-ormsby/gov-pat-quinn-illinois-health-care_b_840134.html
Courtesy of Paul Sjordal
York PC 112: Congress Considers Mileage Tax - By Tracking Vehicles???
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/151765-cbo-says-taxing-drivers-based-on-miles-driven-a-real-option-for-raising-revenues#thecomments-form-message
I'm sorry, but I am absolutely opposed to installing a tracking device in every vehicle in the nation under the guise of a tax to support road repairs and increase the costs of damaging the environment.
1. Our Middle Class is already strapped to the max, and many of them are forced to commute for work because businesses tend to locate in the city, and housing costs there are astronomical. Such a tax would put many thousands of people who are already on the ragged budgetary edge out of work, because they won't be able to afford to commute any longer.
2. A gasoline tax - which we already have at Federal, State, and Local levels - accomplishes the exact same thing WITHOUT having to install a tracking device in every vehicle in the nation.
I find this tax proposal ridiculous, offensive, and likely unconstitutional on the grounds of unreasonable search and violation of privacy.
Regards,
Dan Stafford
Dem PC York 112
I'm sorry, but I am absolutely opposed to installing a tracking device in every vehicle in the nation under the guise of a tax to support road repairs and increase the costs of damaging the environment.
1. Our Middle Class is already strapped to the max, and many of them are forced to commute for work because businesses tend to locate in the city, and housing costs there are astronomical. Such a tax would put many thousands of people who are already on the ragged budgetary edge out of work, because they won't be able to afford to commute any longer.
2. A gasoline tax - which we already have at Federal, State, and Local levels - accomplishes the exact same thing WITHOUT having to install a tracking device in every vehicle in the nation.
I find this tax proposal ridiculous, offensive, and likely unconstitutional on the grounds of unreasonable search and violation of privacy.
Regards,
Dan Stafford
Dem PC York 112
Friday, March 25, 2011
York PC 112: I'd Like To Note That The Democratic Party Of DuPage County...
...has run several highly-qualified female candidates in the past election, and will be also running an excellent candidate for College of DuPage Board, Dianne McGuire.
I've heard Dianne speak on C.O.D., and she has a passion for making the school excellent, and for making the students' needs her top priority. I urge you to vote for Dianne on April 5th.
Regards,
Dan Stafford
PC, York 112
I've heard Dianne speak on C.O.D., and she has a passion for making the school excellent, and for making the students' needs her top priority. I urge you to vote for Dianne on April 5th.
Dan Stafford
PC, York 112
York PC 112: Lots Of Blog Upgrades
I've done lots of upgrades & setup work on the York Township Precinct 112 Committeeman's blog.
I've added a link list, RSS feed and Podcast feed for future use, blog description, stats counters, subscription options, gave the blog a new look, and hopefully begun opening up the lines of communication for the voters in York Precinct 112.
I plan to do my best to keep this blog fairly-well updated and bring Democratic news to the York 112 voters.
One note on that term "Committeeman" - it's the legal term under State law. I prefer "Committeeperson," because it doesn't have sexist connotations, but that's the way it reads under Illinois law for now. It is not my intention to create exclusions or leave any voters out of our democratic process.
Regards,
Dan Stafford
I've added a link list, RSS feed and Podcast feed for future use, blog description, stats counters, subscription options, gave the blog a new look, and hopefully begun opening up the lines of communication for the voters in York Precinct 112.
I plan to do my best to keep this blog fairly-well updated and bring Democratic news to the York 112 voters.
One note on that term "Committeeman" - it's the legal term under State law. I prefer "Committeeperson," because it doesn't have sexist connotations, but that's the way it reads under Illinois law for now. It is not my intention to create exclusions or leave any voters out of our democratic process.
Regards,
Dan Stafford
Cathy Sewell Elected First Vice Chair of DuPage County Democratic Party
I would like to congratulate Cathy Sewell on her recent election to the First Vice Chair position within the Democratic Party of DuPage County!
Cathy was a candidate for for DuPage County Board in the 2010 election, and came closer than any other Democratic candidate for the Board to winning her election.
Cathy brings strong executive experience and a willingness to put in hard work to her new duties as First Vice Chair.
Thank you, Cathy Sewell!
Dan Stafford
Cathy was a candidate for for DuPage County Board in the 2010 election, and came closer than any other Democratic candidate for the Board to winning her election.
Cathy brings strong executive experience and a willingness to put in hard work to her new duties as First Vice Chair.
Thank you, Cathy Sewell!
Dan Stafford
REMEMBER TO VOTE TUESDAY, APRIL 5th!!!
As events in several States have shown, no Democrat or Progressive can afford to sit out any more elections. Our municipal elections will be Tuesday, April 5th at the York Township office on Meyers Road, just a bit South of Roosevelt.
Every office is important, because local officials implement laws and policies at the local level. These officials affect our every-day lives in myriad ways, both in the short and long-term.
Please, if you're registered, take the time to go vote on April 5th!
Sincerely,
Dan Stafford
PC, York-112
Every office is important, because local officials implement laws and policies at the local level. These officials affect our every-day lives in myriad ways, both in the short and long-term.
Please, if you're registered, take the time to go vote on April 5th!
Sincerely,
Dan Stafford
PC, York-112
Friday, September 24, 2010
Tons of work to do here, but here's a few things:
1. The election cycle has got all of us Democrats in DuPage County running our tails off. You can read more about DuPage County at http://dupagedems.blogspot.com , or, if you're a Twitter fan, at http://twitter.com/DuPage_Dems .
I've been doing IT support for the Democratic Party of DuPage County, including computer repair and maintenance, web strategy and outreach, blogging, and more. Needless to say, the County's needs are great, and have put my local Precinct web presence on the back-burner until after the election cycle.
For now, the best source of news for what I'm up to will be the DuPage County blog (which is the one linked above) , although I can give you a sneak preview of one upcoming event here:
In late October, I'll be hosting a meet-n-greet in Precinct 112 with three of the top female Democratic candidates for office in DuPage County. We should be having coffee, cookies, tea, lemonade, and plenty of discussion.
Regards, and thank you for your support,
Dan Stafford
PC, York-112
I've been doing IT support for the Democratic Party of DuPage County, including computer repair and maintenance, web strategy and outreach, blogging, and more. Needless to say, the County's needs are great, and have put my local Precinct web presence on the back-burner until after the election cycle.
For now, the best source of news for what I'm up to will be the DuPage County blog (which is the one linked above) , although I can give you a sneak preview of one upcoming event here:
In late October, I'll be hosting a meet-n-greet in Precinct 112 with three of the top female Democratic candidates for office in DuPage County. We should be having coffee, cookies, tea, lemonade, and plenty of discussion.
Regards, and thank you for your support,
Dan Stafford
PC, York-112
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)