The Give & The Take

Citizens: On May 1st, I was at the meeting with Lt. Governor Sheila Simon. It was a meeting to inform our State government what our needs are in the Stephenson County area. It was interesting to see how many were invited by the powers that be.

You’re right, no one from the fiscally responsible Stephenson County Tea Party was invited, but we saw it in the paper and annoyed many with some good ideas. This was a high tech study with electronic devices that send out a question via computer, on a screen with a multiple choice of answers.

The big problem is that it was the government and Northern Illinois University’s choice of answers.

There were several categories of questions that I felt were not needed, therefore one of the multiple choice answer’s should have been “not applicable,” or “there is no problem,” or “Government - stay out of our lives and leave us alone.” Let them keep their big ideas of new programs (like rural transportation) to themselves. Keep the grant money to pay off part of Illinois’ $128 Billion debt, or the last quarters backlog of unpaid bills to the tune of $9 billion to Meals on Wheels, Nursing homes, Schools, etc.

This was a bogus survey that sent a false message to Springfield that we have all of these needs and we want you, Mr. Government, to “save us with a grant” that will cost us more in taxes, or force the state to borrow more.

Our county tax dollars, through the Northern Illinois Development Association (NIDA), donated $25,000 towards this study. Then NIDA says they are going to use this study to secure more future grants. Go figure!

As President Ford’s famous quote tells us - “ A government that is big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take everything you have.”

Bill Dietz
Lena, IL

Obama Campaign’s Juliet a Success Story?

This is Juliet.

She was born to a crack whore in inner city Chicago.

Juliet had many, many health issues because of the drugs her mother took during pregnancy. Poor Juliet!

The wonderful tax-payers of the State of Illinois picked up the tab from forced income tax withholding to pay for all of Juliet’s health problems due to being born to a crack whore. The total taxpayer bill was a whopping 3.5 million dollars!

Juliet is now five years old and is smaller than most kids her age due to being addicted to crack when she was born, now Juliet has learning disabilities and has to have special education due to the crack halting development in her brain. Once again here come the Illinois taxpayers to Juliet’s rescue to make sure she has her special education paid for through their property taxes.

This is Juliet now at the age of 13. Juliet has been forced to take care of her other 9 siblings because her mother is still a crack whore that lives on welfare and in section 8 housing units that are very dangerous. Poor Juliet has to drop out of her special education school and get a job because her crack addicted mother spends their welfare check on crack cocaine instead of bills, food and shelter and clothing. All 10 children are on Medicaid and food stamps, but Mom sells the food stamps to buy more crack cocaine. The children are always hungry and crying to poor Juliet for help.

This is Juliet at the age of 16. Now she, too, is a crack whore because she just could not cope with having to care for her addicted mother and 9 siblings. The stress and constant state of utter poverty was just too much for Juliet to bear. Juliet watched her mother all of her life smoke crack cocaine and sleep with many, many men, so she thinks that is what she is supposed to do with her life too.

This is Juliet at the age of 17. She is now addicted to crack cocaine and is pregnant. Her baby daddy has left poor Juliet all alone because she wouldn’t put down the crack pipe to save the baby. Juliet applies for and receives welfare, food stamps, public housing and Medicaid.

Juliet gives birth to a crack cocaine addicted baby. The cycle continues to yet another generation. Poor Juliet never had a chance. She was doomed from the start because the entitlement mentality rewards bad behavior. Juliet’s mother’s behavior was incredibly bad, toxic even.

This is what we get when we have nothing but an entitlement mentality. This is the path the Obama Administration is proposing for America. Is this the America you want to live in and raise a family in?

Think about it!

Kathy Hood
Chadwick, IL

Public Schools’ Documentary Presentation

Have you ever wondered how the founders of this country had the education and inspiration to form a new government?

Have you ever wondered how we got public schools?

Well, the movie I am sharing is a documentary on these issues. As a product of the public school and now being 48 years old and having been blessed to be able to help my wife Home school for the past 14 years, I have learned much more about history and society than what was ever offered in the public school.

While Home Schooling may not be for everyone, this experience of teaching and learning has left me wondering: Why our government school system has left its roots, its ability to produce young adults that can function, lost the ability to apply discipline, lost the will to teach real history, lost the goal of teaching critical and logical thinking skills?

For comparison, roughly 300 years ago, an 8th student was ready for a career or college. He already at that point knew the entire bible as well as Latin and Greek and Hebrew. Reading, writing, and math were the basics.

These students became our founders/leaders/business leaders/preachers. Most of our founding fathers were home schooled, and mentored.

So prepare to be informed on how we have gotten to where we are today in

the education of American students. Furthermore, learn what the public schools have injected into our society.

Stephenson County Tea Party movie night. Thursday, May 10th. 6:30 PM, 111 E. Mason St. in Lena IL. Old School Apartments.

David Martindale
Rock City, IL

Capitol Report

By Jim Sacia, State Representative, 89th District

I just cast the hardest vote I have ever made, and because of it, a very important piece of legislation will never see the House Floor for extended debate. It is defeated.

Explaining “the process” so not to lose your interest, can often be a challenge. This was not my intended article this week, but I feel it must be written so you can get a sense of just how complex and convoluted the process can be.

As we face the most intense month in my tenure, I have never seen anything like this happen and perhaps never will again on such an important issue. I wish I could have snuck away. A story is told that Abe Lincoln, while serving as a State Representative, jumped out a second floor window to avoid a difficult vote. I had no window available. I was one of eight members of Judiciary II – Criminal Law Committee that had to look into the eyes of the numerous advocates of Marsy’s Law packed into Room 114 of the Illinois Capitol.

I voted no on House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 29 (HJRCA 29) which I previously championed and enthusiastically endorsed both in the Committee and the House Floor.

I’m no Paul Harvey but here is “the rest of the story”.

HJRCA 29 is a very straight forward common sense bill guaranteeing victims’ rights at criminal proceedings. This currently is the responsibility of the prosecution. This process would give their attorney the same place at the table as the prosecution and the defense attorney.

It is authored and championed by my good friend, often opponent in debate, State Representative Lou Lang (D-Skokie), who is a gifted legislator and attorney. It exists because there are times when a victim of a crime unfortunately is not kept in the loop or advised of progress in a case or the ultimate outcome, which often is not near what they hoped for as far as the severity of the sentence.

The resolution sailed through committee and the House passing out with 115 yes votes several weeks ago. It similarly moved through the Senate and obtained 57 of 60 yes votes. Then it came back to us on “concurrence” to deal with changes made in the Senate. These changes created in the Senate, set off all the bells and whistles, creating a two and one half hour debate and its ultimate defeat in the Criminal Law Committee.

Two organizations that we seldom, if ever, see in agreement are the State Bar Association and the States Attorney Association (the prosecution). They sat together at the table articulating that the law of unintended consequences would kick in if passed. Illinois deals with nearly 100,000 felonies per year, 300,000 misdemeanors, 52,000 DUI (driving under the influence) and nearly 3 million other cases where the victim’s attorney would now have an equal standing with the defense attorney and prosecutor. Many of you have dealt with our horribly clogged court system. This would have created a monster and it would have been constitutional, however, nearly impossible to fix. The vast majority of our prosecutors do a great job for their victims. This should be the wake-up call for those who fail.

As always, you can reach me, Sally or Barb at or e-mail us at You can also visit my website at www.jimsacia.com. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you.