In the Eye of the Beholder

Operatives passing thru Barrington Hills after dark would be wrong to think they had been teleported to downtown-Tokyo-Disney. In fact they would be passing through the freefire zone of an internecine struggle among Barrington Hills natives -- a contest to see who has the brightest frontyard home display in town. Warned that they were perilously close to bringing down the ComEd powergrid, the village of Barrington Hills found it necessary to intervene with an ordinance placing restrictions on the the amount lumens emitted by the outdoor lighting.

The ordinance succeeded, however, only in uniting the warring homeowners against the new common enemy in cityhall. And now the high-voltage bulbs from H.A.L.O. -- Homeowners Against Lighting Ordinances -- are feeling their oats. The pressure group of homeowners successfully fought off the restrictive ordinance to make them dial down their outdoor lighting displays. As explained in the Daily Herald ...

Opponents of the ordinance from the village's new Common Sense Party and its preceding group — Homeowners Against Lighting Ordinances — agreed the law has been watered down since it first was proposed. But it's the principle of having any regulation at all that they're against, Common Sense Party member and village trustee candidate Dede Wamberg said.

H.A.L.O. members regard Barrington Hills ...

as a place where residents paid a premium to be free of regulation and left alone.
Barrington Hills approves lighting law for new homes only

In a related story, there have been a surge of local incidents where lasers are being shined at airliners. It is unknown whether the planes were flying over Barrington Hills at the time. The Daily Herald reports one proposed remedy ...

Republican state Rep. Dave Winters wants the legislature to create state criminal charges that can be used against people who shoot laser pointers at pilots. Winters, who is also a pilot from Shirland, near Rockford, said there is not enough protection against an offense that could temporarily blind pilots and cause devastation.
State lawmakers push to criminalize pointing lasers at planes

Your LakeCountyEye fully expects to see H.A.L.O. fight this laser ordinance as well.

Goog Synthesizer: Now with OppoComplete

Operatives familiar with this blog got some free schooling ...

Goog Synthesizer: The AutoRepeat

in the art of using Google's autocomplete feature, the oppo-research tool of choice. Yesterday your LakeCountyEye demonstrated how the Google autocompleter can be mined for valuable intelligence on everything from Illinois's congressional representatives to (he-he) forbidden love. Today your LakeCountyEye, never knowing when there is too much of a good thing, continues with some more of the same ...

Who is Adam Kinzinger? Beats the heck out of your LakeCountyEye. Informed sources inform your LakeCountyEye that Kinzinger is some Congressman from out there, out in Illinois somewhere. Were it not for the Google autocompleter, Kinzinger would be a complete unknown ...

Adam Kinzinger Gay

Take it on your LakeCountyEye's word, it is impossible to underestimate the value of top-notch oppo.

Another Illinois Congressman from out somewhere beyond the Route 53 extension, Aaron Schock, will be more familiar to frequent readers of this blog ...

Belt Out the Blues

But even your LakeCountyEye can't hold a candle to Google when it comes to digging for those skeletons in the closet ...

Aaron Schock Shirtless

Schock, no doubt, has the opposition scared shirtless.

Closer to home, Aaron Lawlor is a Lake County Commissioner; although your LakeCountyEye understands Lawlor hopes to rise to the airy ranks of the Congressional delegation. Which may explain these oppo results from Google ...

Aaron Lawlor Gay

Your LakeCountyEye suspects Lawlor indeed has the right stuff for the job!

The mack daddy of this Congressional delegation is of course Mark Kirk. Naturally in the hands of Google's autocomplete ...

Mark Kirk Gay
Mark Kirk Lies

You know what they say: there are lies; there are damned lies; and then there are gay lies.

Breaking News! Your LakeCountyEye defrocked ...

LakeCountyEye Shiftless

Goog Synthesizer: The AutoRepeat

Looking ahead to a another cold January weekend, your LakeCountyEye sees nothing marked on the calendar -- for instance Sunday, 2pm to 5pm, CST, nada. Which means there is plenty of free time ahead to play the Internet's newest craze. Operatives who read about it first on this blog ...

Goog Synthesizer

will know your LakeCountyEye has been spelunking its autocompleter to mine Google's closely held secrets:

Not a closely held secret, Cal Skinner is the brainchild behind the McHenryCountyBlog. But for Google's autocompleter he is half of a dynamic duo ...

Cal Skinner Jack Franks

Jack Franks, of course, is a State Rep from somewhere out there in McHenry County. All of which which proves politics makes for strange bedfellows. The attention, by the way, is not reciprocated. Googling Jack Franks shows not a trace of Cal Skinner. All of which proves Eric Clapton's lament Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?

Speaking of bedfellows, it's too bad for Joe Walsh that global warming is a myth perpetrated by the liberal media. He could've used some of that hot air to fill his inflatable mattress. Walsh plans to sleep in his congressional office, but what the Google searchers want to know is ...

Joe Walsh Foreclosure

With the dozen or so past foreclosure judgements and evictions on his permanent record, it's small wonder that Walsh will be sleeping at the office. The DC landlords are all demanding a year's rent in advance!

If Joe Walsh hadn't gone to Congress, then everyone would be talking about Robert Dold going to Congress. And if Google is right, what they would be talking about the new Tenth District Congressman would be ...

Bob Dold Jewish

Does that trip to Israel count?

See your message on Google! Contact your LakeCountyEye for a quote ...

LakeCountyEye Your Ad Here

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Wants to Know: Hu's in Jail?

The Chicago Tribune's creepy cartoonist imagines a dinner conversation between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chicago's Mayor Daley:

Hu: In glorious motherland we send counter-revolutionary Packers to detention camp.
Daley: That's a great suggestion President Hu ... but I'm pretty sure we can't jail the Packers.

Chicago Tribune, 01/21/2011

Ha ha, sure we can. Someone in the White House declares the Packers enemy combatants. And off they go to Guantanamo. Perfectly legal.

A Billion Here a Billion There

The Lake County News-Sun apparently receives letters to the editor, and publishes some of them. Your LakeCountyEye never reads them, except the letters printed on-line. And even then your LakeCountyEye never actually reads anything much beyond the URL.

Lately it seems the letter writing masses are writing all their letters about the Illinois Income Tax increase. It is now estimated that the new law will increase the Illinois Income Tax by a billion percent:

http://newssun.suntimes.com/opinions/letters/3389089-474/billion-percent-illinois-tax-increase.html

Sources tell your LakeCountyEye the actual figure will be something closer to fiddy kabillion percent ...

We Finally Got a Piece of the Pie

Whitewash Joe Walsh

The Daily Herald, predictably, endorsed Melissa Bean in 2008. Predictable, because of an immutable law discovered by the Political Science Dept at Robert Morris University: the probability that a local candidate wins their election will be in direct proportion to the probability they are endorsed by the Daily Herald. So when everyone (with the exception of the idiotsavants at the McHenryCountyBlog) predicted a nobrainer win for Bean, the Daily Herald unsurprisingly presented Bean with a nobrainer endorsement.

Operatives are advised to sell their shares in KFC because this is the year of everyone eating crow. Including the Daily Herald, now that Joe Walsh is the congressman representing Illinois's eighth.

A newspaper, by the nature of its business, needs access to newsmakers. Not surprisingly the Daily Herald has written a meaculpa editorial to Walsh, as if to say ... forget about all those mean things we wrote about you, Joe -- we love you now, big guy:

Is he being too ideally ambitious in his goals? Probably. Will the newness wear off and reality set it? A good chance of that. Is his viewpoint still too doctrinaire? Certainly. But for now, in this short first few days, Rep. Walsh has impressed. He has been, in this short first few days, a refreshingly different politician. We only ask, Rep. Walsh, that you keep impressing.
Mr. Walsh goes to Washington

To their credit the Daily Herald tried not to be transparently obvious. But, c'mon, everyone knows what the stakes are. Well maybe not everyone.

The corporatesuits at TeamAmerica10th contributed to the blogosphere a deadpan comic reading of the Herald editorial to rival a Steven Wright:

It seems the DH has noticed what we here at Team America also noticed some weeks before the election, and then afterwards -- and we too (having sat through a number of Walsh stump speeches that made us roll our eyes a bit and look for the hook) were early critics, but came around. This bodes well for Walsh's ability to connect with his voters and win over even editorial boards with his fresh approach... and we will wait and see how he continues to conduct himself now as a sitting Congressman. We, like the DH, have high hopes, and will continue to be solidly in Walsh's corner, assuming he continues to measure up. Keep up the good work, Joe.
Daily Herald Jumps on Joe Walsh Bandwagon in IL-8

Pace Ross Perot, that giant sucking sound you hear is not all our jobs going out of the country.

Goog Synthesizer: Part Toog

Is Lake County in the slippery-ice grip of the winter doldrums? There was not a sausage to do this past weekend -- particularly Sunday, noon to 3 -- so your LakeCountyEye passed the hours playing the latest Internet craze since online poker, Google autocomplete. Operatives learned on this blog ...

Goog Synthesizer

how Google's autocomplete feature can be mined to reveal what Google secretly knows about everyone and anyone that you are searching for. For instance ...

It's no secret that liberal, pro-choice State Rep Mark Beaubien represents enclaves of pro-choice liberalism like McHenry County, Island Lake, Cuba Township and more. But did you know that through the Google eyes, he is ...

Mark Beaubien BFKN

Operatives no doubt are thinking, wassa BFKN? Your LakeCountyEye has no idea. Mark Beaubien remains an utter mystery.

County Commissioner Brent Paxton has Zion, Winthrop Harbor, the county upper right corner. Google's autocompleter never fails to surprise however with ...

Brent Paxton Lemons

One would surmise he is a used-car dealer. Not so. According to his bio, Brent Paxton is a chiropractor. Which is totally different.

Linda Pedersen is the county commissioner representing Antioch and the upper left corner of the county. Google's autocomplete reveals what their users want to know ...

Linda Pedersen Tattoo

It is unclear whether the search engine is being used to find a tattoo design likeness of Linda Pedersen. Or to find Linda Pedersen's body-art. That being a bridge too far, your LakeCountyEye prefers not to know.

Now follow your LakeCountyEye every day on the Google autocompleter ...

LakeCountyEye Non Sequitur

Goog Synthesizer

Cyber-savvy LakeCountyEye operatives are familiar with Google's autocomplete feature:

How autocomplete works
As you type, Google's algorithm predicts and displays search queries based on other users' search activities. These searches are algorithmically determined based on a number of purely objective factors (including popularity of search terms) without human intervention. All of the predicted queries shown have been typed previously by other Google users.
Features: Autocomplete

It's not a surprise that Gizmodo has mined the annoying autocomplete for purposes of cyber-hilarity. For instance, type in Illinois and Google will suggest ...

Illinois Lottery
Google Autocomplete Redefines U.S. Map

Your LakeCountyEye is never above stealing someone else's clever idea to claim as one's own. Particularly a clever idea that requires not much more in the way of wattage than a stolen borrowed Internet connection.

Lake County has a new State Senator, Suzi Schmidt. Google's autocomplete feature recommends ...

Suzi Schmidt Political Cartoon

Intrigued, your LakeCountyEye went searching for said political cartoon. Not recalling ever seeing a cartoon about Suzi Schmidt, your LakeCountyEye was not surprised when unable to find one. Those previous Google users may have intended political cartoon as an adjective

The former new Lake County State Senator, Dan Duffy, gets autocompleted in an unexpected way ...

Dan Duffy Hungry Man

Your LakeCountyEye can commiserate. Who hasn't starved to death waiting for a red light to change? Especially when that Taco Bell waits just around the corner.

Mark Curran, Lake County's yet to be former Sheriff, may run but cannot hide from the Google autocompleter. Google actually breaks news, with information regarding ...

Mark Curran Chef Arrested

Your LakeCountyEye hears that chef got into hot water for serving party turnovers. No doubt this was a swift ride to the lockup. If hungry Dan Duffy is ever caught running a red light, some hot stir-fry awaits at the County jail.

NEW! Now search for your LakeCountyEye on Google ...

LakeCountyEye Cash For Gold

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Asks ... Who Would Win in a Fight: Abe Lincoln or the Grim Reaper?

The Chicago Tribune creepy cartoonist is back, with more trademark corn on the macabre. This time the creepy cartoonist has Illinois's death penalty in his crosshairs:

Chicago Tribune, 01/10/2011

One would expect a hairtrigger 2nd Amendment proponent like the creepy cartoonist to favor a death penalty. Not so, apparently. Your LakeCountyEye speculates that the creepy cartoonist takes his moral instruction from the Vatican. This may also explain all the Hieronymus-Bosch imagery in his drawings. This drawing in particular depicts a Lincolnesque figure banishing the death penalty from Illinois. However the actual law abolishing the death penalty is not a Republican or even a bi-partisan bill. The bill now sitting on the Governor's desk is mostly the work of the Democrats. The Chicago Tribune creepy cartoonist will point his finger at the Springfield Democrats when they pass legislation he doesn't like. But when the Democrats pass a law that he favors, the creepy cartoonist praises the people of Illinois. Consistency must be the hobgoblin of little minds?

We Finally Got a Piece of the Pie

The gangstas at the McHenryCountyBlog ask you to join James Brown, and his soul-brothers, to celebrate raising the Illinois Income Tax fiddy kabillion percent:

Posted for the benefit of those favoring higher income taxes. I Feel Good

James Brown is the Godfather of Soul.

Henley Way Shape or Form

Editorial cartoonists all employ the standard trope of pinning a label on their targets. No caricaturist can expect his or her work to be universally recognizable; multiplying that constraint by about a factor of 5 yields the Lake County Journal's DIY cartoonist:

2010 Election Review

For those keeping score at home, the images represent, from l. to r. -- Mark Kirk, Joe Walsh, Robert Dold, Adam Kinzinger, Dan Seals. Although your LakeCountyEye isn't all that sure that Joe Walsh wasn't mislabeled:

DIY Cartoonist Drawing	Don Henley	Joe Walsh

The label may say WALSH but your LakeCountyEye's Lyin' Eyes see someone else. Operatives are asked to decide for themselves who the Lake County Journal's DIY cartoonist intended to represent. Don Henley or Joe Walsh? It goes without saying that quality control is the first thing to suffer in an economic recession.

Kick a Guy When He's Down

In these days of CGI cartooning it's nice to know there are still some practitioners of the hoary art of pen-to-paper. One such DIY cartoonist is in the employ of the Lake County Journal. (Although employ in the sense of implied remuneration may be a euphemism in this case.) Not surprisingly, the Lake County Journal's DIY cartoonist is as mean-spirited as the editorial agenda of the Lake County Journal's publisher:

2010 Election Review

Yes, that is Dan Seals on the far right.

In the oft-repeated-seldom-equalled words of Jim Acosta ...

Boy that's kinda cold.

2 + 2 = 75?

The Illinois Income Tax may be going up. How much? According to the Lake County Federation of Teachers ...

The governor and legislative leaders are discussing proposals to increase the state income tax by approximately 2 percent.
Support Revenue for Education and Public Services

Now, Ayn Rand toting ideologues would rather see government by, for & of the people perish from the earth before seeing a tax levied. So not surprisingly the tax-hawks at the McHenryCountyBlog are all over this like pink on a pig:

Here's the email from the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Note the false characterization of the proposed income tax hike as "approximately 2 percent."
Math-Impaired Teachers Union Supports 75% Income Tax Hike

It's obvious that "approximately 2 percent" refers to the proposed increase of the 3% income tax to 5.25% ...

5.25% - 3% ≈ 2%

The exact difference is 2.25% -- which the McHenryCountyBlog prefers to characterize as 75% of the base 3% ...

75% * 3 = 2.25

Of course no one is dumb enough to think:

2% * 3 = 2.25

But this doesn't deter the McHenryCountyBlog from pretending that they think the IFT cannot add 2 + 2 (and by implication that we should be home-schooling our children).

Well perhaps your LakeCountyEye spoke too soon. It is unclear that the McHenryCountyBlog is not dumb enough to think the IFT is dumb enough to think:

2.25 / 3 = 2%

So your LakeCountyEye will pretend to think that the McHenryCountyBlog really believes the IFT cannot add 2 + 2.

Did He Say What I Think He Said??????

This is the only taxing entity in Lake County that is reducing it's tax levy and it is the second time in two years AvonTownship has done do.  


Also if you listen, Sam Yingling points out that Illinois has too many taxing bodies  Could it be he is advocating for the elimination of his own job?  You decide for yourself!

Pettifog the Petition

With the Bears now bound for the Super Bowl, Lake County has little in the way of diversion between now and super-game-day -- Sunday February 6. So naturally everybody's attention is now diverted to petition challenges. Candidates throughout the county have been scrambling to get their opponents tossed off the ballot before the 2011 consolidated election, scheduled for April 5.

Just this week, Joe "Sledge of Allegiance" Ptak hammered his opponent down the memory hole and off the ballot. The Daily Herald has details of the preemptive strike ...

Island Lake village board candidate bumped from ballot

Incumbent candidates for trustee in East Dundee fared better, emerging from their petition challenges unscratched. Petition challenges are argued before an electoral board -- one comprised of elected officials sitting on the same governmental body that the candidate is running for -- so 'nuff said! LakeCountyEye operatives are encouraged to read for themselves between the lines of the Daily Herald account ...

All six E. Dundee candidates still in the race

Operatives tasked with both passing petitions and challenging petitions are advised to know the law and pay attention to detail. Here are the 10 most common mistakes made by noobs when submitting a nominating petition:

Ten Things to Look for When Challenging a Petition in Lake County

1) Petition is notarized with Lake County Fair hand stamp. 2) Petition has a column for credit card numbers. 3) Petitions must be bound with a staple. The petition is not valid if the $100 bill is attached with a paperclip. 4) Look for obvious fake names like: Dick Hertz or Ben Dover or Louis G Atsaves 5) Petitions printed on back of unused Lake County Courthouse restaurant placemats. 6) Washington DC is not a valid Lake County address. Unless the signer is named Rahm. 7) Nominating Petition was not phrased in the form of a question. 8) Every petition passer listed is named Princess Nudelman. 9) Petition has a coupon for nine free holes at Fort Sheridan. 10) The petition submitted is a petition for bankruptcy.

Look for your LakeCountyEye at the checkout line, toting that year's supply of black (or blue) ballpoint pens.

Dialogues in Democracy

Sundays at 1

Dialogues in Democracy

Lake County Forest Preserve District’s
Adlai E. Stevenson II Historic Home
25200 N St. Mary’s Rd.
Libertyville, IL

Tickets: $15 each or $35 for the series
To Reserve:

http://www.stevensoncenterondemocracy.org/

Phone: 847-816-7433

Outstanding speakers followed by an opportunity for conversation over coffee in the surroundings that inspired "The Man from Libertyville"

Sun., Jan. 16, 1 pm
– The Supreme Court and the Future of U.S. Democracy

Geoffrey Stone,
University of Chicago Law School professor and an editor of the Supreme Court Review will speak on the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Stone is author of
• Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism
• Top Secret: When Our Government Keeps Us in the Dark
• War and Liberty: An American Dilemma.

Sun., Feb. 13, 1 pm
– State of the State in a Time of Crisis, a panel discussion

• Kathy Ryg,
  President of Voices for Illinois Children
• John Bouman,
  President of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law
• Kristi Long,
  Present and CEO of the United Way of Lake County

These leaders of not-for-profit organization will discussion public policy partnerships and how to engage, promote, and evaluate policy decision making for the survival of all our Illinois’ citizens during difficult economic times.

Sun., March 13, 1 pm
– Cultural & Environmental Preservation in China

Gerald Adelmann,
President and CEO of Openlands and participant in a joint American/Chinese inventory of the rich diversity of China's rural Yunnan province, will discuss and show photos of cultural and environmental preservation in one of the world’s most ecologically and ethnically diverse regions of the world. Openlands protects the natural and open spaces of northeastern Illinois.

Send your free or not-for-profit Lake County events to LakeCountyEye@gMail.com

"What we don't want to do in this country is ever get to the point where individuals can get sick, can have an illness, and then purchase insurance."

Joe Walsh hasn't been sworn in as 8th District Congressman yet, but he is already working the TV cameras like a 20-term incumbent. Walsh's famous fake-puppy-dog charm was in full force today, when he was interviewed on CNN by Jim Acosta. In it, Walsh can be seen in full teaparty talking point mode, protecting the downtrodden health insurance companies from being burdened with all those sick people. Except he goes a leetle too close to the Republican bone at the end. Even Acosta has trouble keeping a straight face.



Zip forward to about 5:24 where Walsh stumbles and forgets his memorized talking points.

Joe Walsh: What we don't want to do in this country is ever get to the point where individuals can get sick, can have an illness, and then purchase insurance.

Jim Acosta: Boy that's kinda cold.

Walsh hasn't even been sworn in as congressman yet and he is already embarrassing everyone. Joe, FoxNews is there for a reason. Use it.

Q the Eye/01.01.11

Dear LakeCountyEye,

I'm on the ballot and running for village trustee. I want to win but I don't want to have to campaign. Can you help?

Political Ptak

Dear Faux Joe,

There are two ways to get elected to public office in Illinois. The first way is to work hard, knock on doors and talk to voters, attend public events and meet civic and political leaders, master the issues that are of vital concern to both the voters and governing bodies, and be a tireless advocate for the policies that will best address these issues while serving the voters in a fair and equitable way.

The second way is to file a petition challenge and get your opponent thrown off the ballot.

You strike your LakeCountyEye as a #2 type of candidate. And you've come to the right place for advice!

There are more loopholes for challenging a nominating petition in Illinois than there will be potholes on the Route 53 extension. You may have already read about some recent clever petition challenges on this blog ...

Extraordinary Petition

Your opponent can be knocked off the ballot on the basis of a petition staple, or for owing money to the board they wish to represent, or to anything in between.

But the go-to guy for a petition challenge is LakeCountyEye operative manque, Joe Ptak. Ptak, some may recall, attained national notoriety for being the guy who demanded a Pledge of Allegiance at the Bean/Walsh debate in Grayslake last October:

The Alleged Allegiance

Ptak has not been shy about why he expects to hear a loyalty oath recited by his fellow citizens; and he has a loyal lockstep following, that includes the McHenryCountyBlog:

There are ignorant people in this land who do not have the slightest idea, nor understand, what it means to be an AMERICAN. Our Liberty, Freedom of Speech and the Press are never guaranteed and we must always fight to maintain them.
Man Who Asked League of Women Voters’ Moderator the Pledge of Allegiance Question Comments

Ptak is now cashing in his political capital, no doubt with hopes of parlaying it into a political career. Now running for Island Lake trustee, Ptak has personally filed a petition challenge against his opponent, Marcy Night. As Ptak personally told the Daily Herald,

"We want to capture all three seats and take control of the board, which is presently dominated Mayor (Debbie) Herrmann and her three allies," Ptak said. "I was raised in Chicago and we don't want our vote split."
Lake candidates face petitions challenges

So when it comes to getting elected to local office, one could do worse than to emulate joltin' Joe Ptak: With liberty and justice for all!

If you are an elected official, or a previously elected official, or just a private citizen under indictment, send your political questions to Q the Eye c/o ... LakeCountyEye@gMail.com

Extraordinary Petition

With a new year ahead, LakeCountyEye operatives are advised to pause and take some time to reflect on what may be learned from the past 12 months -- in particular what can be learned from their opponent's 2011 nominating petitions. The upcoming municipal election is just around the corner. If the opposition hasn't been thrown off the ballot yet, then what are you waiting for?!

This year's collection of calligraphic cavils are fulsome enough to fill out a LakeCountyEye blog post:

1. Greg Jacobs filed petitions with 130 signatures, to be on the ballot for Mundelein trustee. But one calculting objector pointed out that 130 is a few shy of the 148 minimum required. Jacobs may be down for the count. According to the Daily Herald ...

   Jacobs blamed "apathy in this town" for the lack of signatures.
   Jacobs to drop out of Mundelein race

   Nothing contagious, your LakeCountyEye hopes.



2. A petition challenge filed against Schaumburg Library board candidate David Benson identifies 22 signatures of voters not in the district. Benson, counterpunching, told the Daily Herald that he was advised ...

   only to be sure his signatures were from Cook County residents. "I don't know that many people in Schaumburg Township," Benson said. "I did what I was told. I want to do the right thing, and as far as I know I did the right thing."
   Froehlich challenges petitions of three Schaumburg library candidates

   Your LakeCountyEye reminds operatives to never let an attack go by without a quick response.



3. Deer Park trustee David Kizior is being challenged because his petitions were notarized not with a rubber ink-stamp, but instead with one of those embossing thingy seals. Kizior, hackles no doubt raised, told the Daily Herald:

   "I know the woman who authorized my papers, who said you can't get an imprint-making notary public seal unless you're a notary public," Kizior said.
   Challenger moves to kick senior trustee off Deer Park ballot

   Well, at least not without an eBay account. Your LakeCountyEye wonders how well those embossed petitions hold up after going through the copier?



4. In West Chicago, Donna May wants to run for alderman as well as for library board. However one nitpicky objector noticed that her petitions show a 2010 election date. From a legal standpoint, the upcoming 2011 Election is scheduled to be held in 2011. Unintimidated, May was on-message when talking to the Daily Herald:

   "Ten years [James] Beifuss has been my alderman, and he's never graced my doorstep. Dude, what's going on? They don't want to talk with you."
   West Chicago woman seeking two elected posts

   Ordinarily operatives are not advised to refer to one's opponent as Dude -- but your LakeCountyEye makes an exception in this case, and will be casting a write-in for May.



5. An objector to Dan Selep, candidate for East Dundee trustee, claimed that some of Selep's petition signatures were forged -- a time-honored tradition in Illinois. The evidently velvety Selep explained to the Daily Herald that ...

   when asked by more than one woman if she could sign for her husband, he said yes, unaware of the problem.
   East Dundee candidate's petitions challenged

   Dude, way to go!

And after scrutinizing your opponent's petitions, don't forget to send the paperwork through the shredder. They make terrific New Year's Eve confetti!

Mark Kirk: How about "None of the Above"?

This just in. Senator "I'm so independent, I voted for Don't Ask Don't Tell" is a dead duck. It's time to welcome the new Senator from Illinois, Senator "Yes, Leader McConnell."

We've reproduced Sen. Kirk's Christmas Eve missive here, a "survey" asking which priority his constituents want him to focus on. It's a veritable Dear Santa of right wing wishes. What's your top priority?

• Spending cuts?
• Tax relief?
• Secure borders?
• Education reform?
• Repeal of health care?
• or one of seven more of the usual Republican suspects?

Conspicuously missing, though, is that favorite of independent voter: "none of the above."

And that's a problem because there isn't even a place to suggest that Kirk should be focussing on one thing and one thing only: jobs, jobs, jobs. His list doesn't even mention economic recovery or unemployment. Come to think of it, there is no mention of help for small businesses, either. All you Republican businesspeople who voted for Kirk, I guess you can comfort yourself with that boon for Obama, the line-item veto.

But at least we won't have to worry about Mark Kirk, the independent thinker, anymore. He has his marching orders.

Smacktalk the Hackmatack

Dashing through the snow
On a one-horse open sleigh,
O'er the fields we go,
Laughing all the way.

When the LakeCountyEye Carollers come singing those words, that means one thing and one thing only. It's time to gas up the snowmobile and blaze some new trails through the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge.

Not so fast, however, a 500 square mile Federal wildlife refuge in Northern Lake County is still but a gleam in Santa's eye. As reported on this blog ...

Attack on the Hackmatack

opposition to the refuge is organized and vocal, insisting that a Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern Illinois will amount to another costly and intrusive government boondoggle.

Hackneyed Libertarian slogans like these typically resonate only with the homeschooled ...

Home School

Most everyone else will recognize these concerns as pretense for those special-interests who would prefer to see any Lake County open-space developed into strip malls and bankrupt townhome metroplexes.

Tis the season, however, of peace on earth and goodwill toward all men. If your aim is to sway public interest against a wildlife refuge it may help to extend some convincing -- ie not transparent -- concerns. So in the spirit of bipartisanship, your LakeCountyEye has put together a holiday gift offering of 10 more plausible reasons for opposing Hackmatack:

Ten Believable Reasons for Opposing the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge

The squirrels will become eligible to apply for US citizenship. Hackmatack is too hard to pronounce; and Bigmacattack National Wildlife Refuge is a protected trademark. Donttouchmyjunk National Wildlife Refuge is also a protected trademark. Deer will eat all the medical marijuana. Thar be gold in them thar hills: Mining companies Thar be gravel in them thar holes: Stop the Quarry No Federal Restrictions on Red-Light Cameras. Duffy: Go easy on tickets for right turns on red The AFLAC duck wants 15% of the gross plus 30% of the concession business. Additional costs for Slow Wildlife Crossing signs will bankrupt the Route 53 extension. Deal breaker: Often is heard a discouraging word.

And be sure to keep an eye peeled for the LakeCountyEye Carollers, at a front-porch near you!

Deck us all with Boston Chollie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an' a Kalamazoo!
Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don't we know archaic barrel,
Lullaby Lilla boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don't love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!
Deck us all with Boston Charlie

Amtrak thru the Hackmatack

Local gun-toters who were looking forward to a train-ride thru the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge and shooting some wild game, Buffalo Bill style, are going to have to wait. A new Amtrak train line will not be stopping, as hoped, in McHenry County. The proposed Chicago-Rockford-Dubuque line will stop in the more temperate municipality of Elgin, instead.

The Northwest Herald not surprisingly is not pleased:

Before the election, Gov. Pat Quinn told us a new Amtrak route connecting Dubuque, Iowa, and Chicago would run through McHenry County, Belvidere, and Rockford on its way westward. The state had the money, Quinn said, and would pay the $62.3 million it would cost to run the line through Huntley and Marengo. Last week, the Illinois Department of Transportation, no doubt with Quinn's tacit approval, reversed course. Now the line will skirt McHenry County and Belvidere altogether, instead running through South Elgin and Genoa before curving north toward Rockford. Chalk up another loss for McHenry County, a place rarely visited by most of our statewide politicians.
State snubs county again

Sharp-eyed operatives will observe that the same Northwest Herald, only a week earlier, was not-pleased over plans to create a Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge. The details were reported on this blog by senior cyber-analyst, Mr Redtail ...

Attack on the Hackmatack

The Northwest Herald is quite happy to see money spent to build an Amtrak line in McHenry County. But dollars (and considerably less than 62.3 million of them) for a Wildlife Refuge is a government expense we can't afford. In other words: why isn't big government -- which has no business managing any property in McHenry County -- appropriating property in McHenry County for a railway corridor?

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter? Nope -- that would be the sound of your LakeCountyEye's head exploding.

Note to operatives at the Northwest Herald: those statewide politicians may all be snubbing McHenry County because they are tired of having to listen to the LOL Libertarianism.

Seasons Greetings

To all of our readers... 

Please know

as we wind down on 2010

let your celebrations be filled with an abundance of all things

wonderful and pleasing!

Our Best Wishes and Cheers to a Happy & Healthy

2011

Attack on the Hackmatack

The US Fish and Wildlife Service is currently studying the feasibility of a huge National Wildlife Refuge in Lake County and neighboring areas. To be called Hackmatack, the refuge will extend from Ingleside to Crystal Lake & Harvard in McHenry County, and north into Wisconsin.

Why should we care? Open, public land is a precious natural resource was can bequeath to our children, but only if it is preserved before being developed. National Wildlife Refuge System was created 100 years ago by Teddy Roosevelt, to set aside public land to protect wild animals and plants. Anyone who enjoys hiking, birdwatching, hunting, fishing on public lands today can thank Roosevelt for his vision.

So why does the Northwest Herald oppose the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge?

At first glance the Northwest Herald would be commended for covering the efforts to establish the Hackmatack Refuge. However a close read of the most recent Herald story would suggest that they are covering the Hackmatack to kill it. That story was little more than a soapbox for spokespersons from the Heartland Institute and the Cato Institute, both well-funded libertarian think tanks that want to see all publicly held land in private hands.

Push for Hackmatack refuge prompts debate on land use

A Northwest Herald editorial last week spelled out their reasons for opposing the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge:

we don't need to be adding to the responsibilities of a federal agency that is not working on vital issues right now. We've got a massive federal deficit. Joblessness still near 10 percent. A war in Afghanistan. A significant deployment of troops in Iraq. Nuclear proliferation concerns in North Korea and Iran. New terrorism concerns cropping up regularly. Do we really need taxpayer-funded federal employees spending countless hours and resources studying whether we need a reserve to protect the northern harrier? And then the federal government buying up more land – it already owns about a third of all land in the U.S. – that it then has to spend even more money on to maintain? Our short answer is no.
Wrong time for fed study

Excuse me, but I do not recall the Northwest Herald ever saying their short answer to the Iraq War was no. A war which added a trillion dollars, and counting, to that massive federal deficit. But when it is a matter of a few dollars to fund a Fish & Wildlife Service study, the Herald thinks it is time to pull the plug. The Northwest Herald can say they are "not opposed to the idea of preserving open space and the life of plants and animals."

Northwest Herald, this observer finds that hard to believe.

Gidget Goes to Washington

Freshly minted US Senator & minty fresh divorcee Mark Kirk may be signalling his eligibility:

For the record, your LakeCountyEye was under the impression that a maiden speech is something they would allow in a Parliament somewhere ... of some French country ... like Canada ... or Massachusetts.

Is there only One who is getting it right in Lake County?

This is a Press Release issued by Sam Yingling, Avon Township Supervisor on December 10th.

Other Say Tax Hikes, Avon Township Says Cut Fat

The Avon Township Board will be considering a reduction in the Township’s tax levy at this Monday night’s (December 13,2010) monthly board meeting. Being considered will be an overall Township tax levy reduction of approximately 7.2%.

“When seeking office, we made a commitment to the taxpayers to reduce the levy by 8.7% over the course of the 4 year term of office. In just these past two levy cycles we will achieve a total tax reduction of 7.9% and I am confident we will well exceed the 8.7% reduction we promised the taxpayers”, stated Supervisor Sam Yingling, “The culture of unnecessary taxation and bloated bureaucracy must come to an immediate end.”

The largest levy reduction will be from the Township’s Road and Bridge levy in the amount of 41%. Additional levy reductions being considered will be in the Town of Avon levy in the amount of 3.7% and the Permanent Hard Road levy in the amount of 1.7%. This is the most aggressive local attempt to cut costs, streamline budgets, and provide taxpayers with the greatest tax relief during these challenging economic times.

“The State keeps talking about tax increases and service reductions," Supervisor Yingling said, "But it's time to discuss how to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and duplication. We must recognize that Illinois has one of the highest numbers of taxing entities in the country. We must consolidate these taxing entities and reduce costs. We must look at overall Township reform."

Q Joe Walsh

The McHenryCountyBlog, a WikiLeaks mirror website, has released from their underground nuclear bunker, a new trove of secret documents. The latest revelation comes from the spam folder of an unnamed source inside the Joe Walsh campaign. An email purportedly from the Eighth District Democrats & Independents urges recipients to show their support for congressman-elect Walsh:

Our accidental Congressman, Joe Walsh, will be holding a series of "listening tour" town halls this month. I suggest we all go and give him an earful.
Democrats Urge Democrats to Attend "Accidental" Congressman Joe Walsh's Town Hall Meetings

There is nothing quite as snooze-worthy as one of these sparsely attended congressional townhalls. On a good evening expect to see someone whose Social Security checks are being sent to Yugoslavia and maybe someone else who needs their green card stamped. So your LakeCountyEye is not surprised that they are trying to gin up some last-minute turnout for the Eighth's newest congressman-elect:

Some questions you might want to ask (or any burning question you have):

1. How will you bring jobs and businesses to the Eighth District?
2. What is your plan for getting banks to lend to small businesses in the Eighth District?
3. What do you think your win over Melissa Bean has given you a mandate to do in Congress?
4. What do you mean by the revolution you talked about during the campaign and how do you plan to accomplish it in Washington?
5. How will you vote when Congress is asked to raise the debt ceiling after you take office? (If they don't vote to do it, the government will shut down, as it did in 1994.)
6. Will you vote to repeal Obamacare and why? (Yes, call it that to get an honest answer.)
7. Do you think we should add $700 billion to the deficit over the next ten years just to give tax cuts to people making more than $250,000 per year? Since you are a deficit hawk, will you vote against such tax cuts even if Republican leadership asks you to vote for them?

Democrats Urge Democrats to Attend "Accidental" Congressman Joe Walsh's Town Hall Meetings

Q&A is one way to inject some zest into a meeting of this sort. But your LakeCountyEye does recall one congressman who, when asked how much a gallon of milk cost in the district, was forced to yield to a staffer. That congressman, needless to say, is now in retirement.

Operatives may be curious to attend one of these townhalls. However unless you are a glutton for punishment and enjoy hearing a congressman pontificate by the hour, your LakeCountyEye suggests attending forewarned and forearmed with some of your own questions to ask.

Ten Recommended Questions to Ask Congressman-Elect Joe Walsh

Boxers or briefs? Who is buried in Roland Burris's tomb? What is the price of a Rolex in the Eighth Congressional District? Why are manhole covers round? As a licensed process server, the State of Illinois requires me to ask if you currently reside at 329 Locust Road in Winnetka? Can you play Life in the Fast Lane for my retirement party? I got here late, can we all say the Pledge of Allegiance again? Does ? Who let the dogs out? Erm, just what exactly do you do for a living?

Operatives are reminded that they must phrase their questions in the form of a question.

Dr Smith Goes to Washington

Mark Kirk was finally sworn in to occupy Illinois's golden Senate seat. And, judging from the numbers on the Mark Kirk Internet countdown clocks, not a minute too soon. The minuses on these popular web countdown timers were growing so large, your LakeCountyEye was fearful of an immanent Internet meltdown -- one to rival the Y2K Internet meltdown of Y2K.

Thankful LakeCountyEye operatives able to survive saw Mark Kirk become our newest junior US Senator. The Sun-Times provides the details ...

For all his years in Congress, Kirk has mainly stayed on the House side of the Capitol. Almost giddy with excitement, Kirk talked to reporters about actually being on the Senate floor. "It's kind of a 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' feeling," Kirk said.
Kirk sworn in as state's new senator

For operatives who weren't operating back in the day, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 Jimmy Stewart movie about an idealistic outsider sent by the voters to Washington, who took on the entrenched interests there and stood his ground. Long story short, Mark Kirk is naturally feeling like a 21st Century Mr. Smith.

Some left-of-center operatives will however be thinking, now just hold on one goll darn minute here sir! Kirk, a calculating insider who never held a job outside of Washington, has stood for the entrenched interests there since Y2K. It strains credulity to fancy Mark Kirk as a Mr. Smith.

In his defense, your LakeCountyEye is remindful that at the moment in question Kirk was giddy with excitement.

So in the spirit of ecumenical bipartisanship, some of your LakeCountyEye's favorite movies have been tabulated; and operatives are invited to vote for the film that they think best captures Mark Kirk's ascension to the US Senate floor.

If it were made into a movie, Mark Kirk's election to the Senate would be ...
	Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
	Bonzo Goes to College
	Gidget Goes Hawaiian
	Mark of the Vampire
	Dr No
	Peewee's Big Adventure
	O Lucky Man!
	The Incredible Mr Limpet
	Ensign Pulver
	Rear Admiral

This Internet poll is conducted by Price Waterhouse, winners to be announced Mar 25, 2010 during the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony. Stuffing the ballot box is not to be tolerated.