IRS Also Ripped Off "Mad Men." But Wait! There's More!

June 7, 2013 - The IRS's horribly awful and expensive ($60,000) "Star Trek" (2010),  the shipwrecked "Gilligan's Island" parody (2010) and the embarrassing dance video were bad enough. But wait, there's more! From the looks of things, the IRS has been wasting taxpayer money on heinously bad videos for decades. That's right: For decades. One has to wonder why: Who the heck actually sees these videos other than IRS employees? We've got some old IRS training videos below, but let's start with this one from 2012, below, which rips off "Mad Men."

"In the noirish video," reports the New York Times yesterday, "an actor appears to echo the character of Don Draper, the besuited advertising executive of the show who dreams up campaigns for cigarettes, airlines and bras. Shot in black and white, with a horn-heavy soundtrack, the four-and-a-half minute video reaches deep for art-world metaphors to describe how I.R.S. employees can assist confused taxpayers."

The NYT also notes that the "Mad Men" ripoff "does not appear on the [IRS's] YouTube channel, which was started in April 2011. Instead, it was uploaded to the site by Michael R. Davis, the professional actor hired to play 'Mr. Draper'."

Michael Davis, IRS Actor

Davis's YouTube channel is "ACTINGREELMRDAVIS," and features only nine videos of his work, including the IRS training video. We found more about him at the website of Stephen Smith Films. Davis has a role in "The Rendezvous," a short film (you can see a trailer there).

The site says that Davis has "starred in TV commercials, numerous government and private industrial films for agencies such as NSA, FBI, and DoD, and hosted a show that aired on HGTV. He has also appeared on such programs as 'Game Change,' 'VEEP,' 'Sex and the City,' 'Homicide,' and 'America’s Most Wanted.' Of his favorite roles was that of a stunt driver/photo double for a character on the TV show 'Bones'."

Oscar Nuñez, IRS Actor

Expect to see Davis making the rounds on talks shows in the very near future. This should be a boost for his career. More power to him. He did nothing wrong. He's just an actor doing what he's paid to do. He's not like the IRS folks, who are overpaid to act like they're working.

Rondo The Midget
As the NYT says, the "Mad Men" themed video is not on the IRS YouTube channel. In fact, there are surprisingly few videos posted there. Fortunately, there is Rondo The Midget. Yep, and his YouTube channel is called "rondothemidget." Makes sense, right? Sure. Rondo seems to have a love of IRS training videos, and he's got a bunch posted over there. I think my favorite is titled "IRS Videos, Understanding Taxes - Direct & Indirect Taxes" (watch it below).

Rondo (the midget) describes the video this way:

"As shown in Mr. Hiles' classroom; badly written and acted videos produced by the IRS in the 80s, demonstrating that taxes are cool. This one could be titled, "Taxes, Pets or Meat." In this video, the main character gets his own bachelor pad, eats Donkey Kong cereal, does shots of Orange Crush, but may lose all this awesomeness because of a property tax increase. He then watches a giant 1" videotape at the library, learns the difference between direct & indirect taxes, and wins a steak dinner bet with his sister who owns a pet store. Main character is Oscar Nuñez, who continues to act, most recently seen in The Proposal with Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds and is/was a regular on The Office."

With any luck, and badly need acting coach, doing government films and videos will be the same career booster for Michael R. Davis that it was for Oscar Nuñez.

The next video, below, is titled "Understanding Taxes - Taxes Raise Revenue."

Rondo says this about the video:

"In this video, the star football player rocks the Le Tigre shirt and the 80s shoulder sweater knot, takes a shine to the plain but studious girl, psycho mom who serves paste for breakfast and is happy when her daughter is ignored by boys, a token handicapped person delivers a note, bizarre characters attend the county council meeting, and the boy comes to the girl's rescue by shouting 'Jean!' In the end, bridges are mended both literally and figuratively."

Ironically, after decades of spending big bucks on lousy training films and videos - ostensibly to help people avoid audits - the IRS itself would fail an audit.

It occurs to me that Rondo The Midget should consider a career as a film reviewer. He's pithy and poignant.  Also watch "Understanding Taxes - Bikes & Withholding," which teaches us that paying taxes makes you a chick magnet. Of course, learning to line dance like an IRS employee will also make you more sexually attractive.

Why Funding The Arts With Tax Dollars Is Wasteful

June 9, 2011 - The short video below examines the idiocy of publicy funding "art," especially in this bad economy. "A few weeks back," writes ReasonTV, the producer of the video, "Hollywood movie stars and groups such as the Creative Coalition stormed Washington, D.C. to lobby for increased taxpayer funding of the arts. Most memorably, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey told Hardball's Chris Matthew that Abraham Lincoln was a huge theater fan who 'understood that he needed the arts to replenish his soul'." As ReasonTV pointed out, Spacey didn't mention that Lincoln was killed by a crazed actor in a theater, while the president's soul was supposedly being replenished. They did, however, provide three good reasons why funding the arts with taxapayer dollars is a bad idea. Those reasons are listed below this video. 1. Publicly financed art is easily censored art 2. We're broke 3. It's unnecessary You can read the details of these three good reasons to not fund public art at ReasonTV's website.

I Just Saw Obama's Helicopter, And I'm Pissed

April 27, 2011 - The Obamas are in town to visit with Oprah Winfrey, and you're paying for it. Barack Obama, who apparently has nothing more urgent to attend to (such as golfing), has deemed that it's just fine and dandy to spend hundreds of thousands of your dollars on his trip to Harpo Studios to chat with Oprah. At approximately 11:25 a.m. today, I saw the president's helicopter, accompanied by two guard choppers, fly low over Rogers Park, a remote sector in the extreme northeast and far Left part of Occupied Chicago. It upset me, and it should upset you too. Obama has said that he "will not rest" until he has solved the issue of ... well, he's said that of many issues. (Golf, in his world, is not "rest.") So, sleepless and overworked in his quest to solve domestic and international crises, Obama nevertheless placed Oprah Winfrey above all other items today. Dropping everything, Obama has taken the time to fly to Chicago to sit next to Oprah for the taping of one of the last episodes of "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Her last show will air on May 25, after a 25 year run. This is very important in the world of entertainment and popular culture, and I really don't mean to diminish the significance of Oprah's influence. But... Couldn't the President of the United States have arranged for Oprah's camera crew to visit him at the White House to tape his tribute to Oprah? Of course he could, but instead he chose to spend massive amounts of money on Air Force One's jet fuel and helicopter fuel to get him to Chicago. Once here, of course, he would be motorcaded from the helicopter landing zone over to Harpo Studios. (See his entire, official schedule at http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete.) After the taping, a return to the helicopter, the helicopter flight back to Air Force One, then a flight to New York this afternoon. Is the president going to New York for urgent government business? Nope. He will give speeches at three Democratic National Committee events. In other words, fundraising for his re-election campaign. "I will not rest," he might say, until he gets that billion dollars for his re-election campaign, and an appearance on Oprah is certainly part of that strategy. I haven't even mentioned, yet, the added costs to the Chicago Police Department for the needed extra security details. The local FBI and Secret Service will also be inconvenienced, both in terms of manpower and finances. Don't even get me started on the inconvenience that a presidential motorcade always creates for motorists, who will find major streets closed for the passage of Barack Obama on his way to perform his urgent presidential duties at Harpo Studios. I can't wait for November, 2012. Or for May 26, 2011.

Quinn's Costly New “Infrastructure” Project Threatens Small Businesses

A disturbing report from The Conservative Magazine of Illinois highlights not only the wasteful spending of Governor Pat Quinn, but also point out that the government wants to compete with small business owners that provide internet services. On September 18th, 2010, Governor Quinn announced the start of a state wide internet infrastructure program funded by both federal stimulus and state tax dollars. The program calls for installation of high-speed fiber-optic broadband infrastructure in nine Illinois counties, including LaSalle, Ogle, Lee, Whiteside, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Stephenson, Winnebago, and Boone. This single project will cost a total of $70 million, including $17 million from Illinois Jobs Now and $46 million from the Stimulus package. This pricy package is expected to create a whopping 485 jobs. This is just one of 17 different fiber-optic infrastructure projects planned for the state of Illinois, and is only a picture of what is happening in many other states simultaneously. “Investing in state-of-the-art information and communication networks is a great way to strengthen our economy,” Governor Quinn said. “Illinois has won over $240 million in federal broadband funding to date, funds that will connect Illinois homes and businesses, and put thousands of people back to work.” This project has been billed as internet service for rural areas. In reality, even in the most rural of areas, internet access can be obtained through satellite dish via private companies. There are multiple providers in this state who provide internet access through these means. It is also curious that Quinn has allotted $5 million in cash from the state budget for a similar project to be completed in the city of Chicago. While the grant money is currently going to a handful of individual companies and municipalities for installation, we are not currently aware of the strings that may be attached to this new service though its funding means. This huge project could potentially create a new internet service provider on the market -- the federal government. Calvin Coolidge said it best, "No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline." Another disturbing thought: What will happen to the small business owners who currently provide internet access? Perhaps the worst detail of all is the fact that this project takes a pile of cash from an already in-the-red Illinois budget. The expected state contribution is $48 million. See the regional distribution breakdown: www2.illinois.gov/broadband/Pages/StateCommitmentsforRd2.aspx For more stories like this, subscribe to The Conservative Magazine at http://www.raisetherepublic.com/.

Rockford Tea Party Calls Out City's New HR Director

Something's rotten in Rockford, and here is an important message from the Rockford Tea Party about it. The good people of that fine city should be up in arms over the abuse of taxpayers' and voters' trust. RTP's coordinator David Hale wrote this impassioned email blast on September 7, 2010: UPDATE: The bus to D.C. has NOT been cancelled. The bus will still go to D.C. for the Sept. 12 National Tea Party. Details and registration here. The City of Rockford has a new Director of Human Resources: Julia Scott-Valdez. She was receiving $80,000 yearly from the Rockford Taxpayer for her salary as Deputy City Administrator. On top of that, average benefits to such a position totaled around $45,000 yearly. Shocking enough as that is, as the new Director of HR for the City of Rockford, she is demanding a match of that salary for taking on the position of HR Director an increase of 42 percent to around $114,000. If she doesn't get it Mayor Morrissey is saying that it would open the City of Rockford up to a discrimination lawsuit. So the city would be sued costing taxpayers $100's of $1000's of dollars if they don't pony up the salary, and we would not only pay for the court costs and lawyers costs, but we would also pay for the lawsuit itself. Shocking yes...but here's the real shock. How many employees of the City of Rockford are making more than $100,000 yearly when our unemployment rate sits at 21 percent and the average worker doesn't even make $50,000 yearly. Now why is it that we have a Tea Party? Because we are racists and bigots and want to deprive Blacks of Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness as some Black Leaders in Rockford would have you believe? Or is it because of reasons like this one? Are you listening Ventia Hervey? Folks, we have got to stop this madness from two sides of the same coin. We are called racist because we exist which is the means muting us when we demand fiscal responsibility in our Government. When we're muted, they are able to run roughshod over not only our pocketbooks but over our Constitution. The Government we elected! If I was Mayor there would be a lot of people fired. Of course they could be rehired at a salary more consistent with the local economy. We here in Rockford are not immune to the Taxpayer Abuse by Public Servants. [Some related - and alarming - headlines:] Government Spending Teacher's Paid: It's just a myth: 'underpaid' teachers Illinois Top 100 Government Teacher Salaries 2009 Education In America: Liberalism's Failed Legacy Pensions: Things you won’t hear from Governor Quinn: Federal Pay: Federal workers earning double their private counterparts Public pension double dipping is an invitation to cronyism: editorial Unemployment Rising Homes Devalued: US Homeowner Confidence Drops in Second Quarter Please call the mayor's office [email: Larry.Morrissey@rockfordil.gov] and your local Alderman and demand fiscal responsibility in Rockford Government. The Fall of Our Republic Won't happen by any one Act but by the cuts of a 1000 knives. These recent headlines should give us all pause. Click Here for eVoter. NEXT MEETING: At our next RockfordTeaParty meeting we will discuss the vote we did with the mock ballot based upon the candidates on the ballot at the eVoter website. We will give the results of that vote and that will be the official Rockford Tea Party Vote for this November Election. We will post it publicly and contact media regarding this vote with Press Releases. If you would like to add your vote to the mix please go to eVoter and plug your address and zip code in, print the ballot and vote on paper. We will have a ballot pick up date this week in the parking lot of Heartland Church at Colonial Village at 12 noon near the Parking Garage and once again next week at 12 noon. Our next meeting will take place [in late September/early October] and will most likely be the last meeting this year. This meeting will cover some important information for voting, for our Pre-election Day protest and post election planning. Please come to this next meeting. It will be our last one this year. Watch for one of our next emails for day and time announcements. We will discuss in full the idea of a Pre-Election Protest so please collect and gather your thoughts now. We are also mulling an election night Tea Party Party...your thoughts and feedback over this idea would be appreciated. Why come to a Tea Party meeting to figure out that you are committed to voting? Family. We are a family. We are a community of people that want to see America changed, and the way we do that is with committed participants who support each other and support a massive sweeping change in America this November. Investing your time in a Tea Party Meeting translates into waking up on November 2nd and going to the polls and voting. Attending Tea Party meetings is a commitment to vote. Invest your time and you wont waste your vote. Pledge yourself to vote by coming to the next Tea Party meeting.

Exclusive: Disorganized Chicago Census Screwing Workers (Updated)

UPDATE, May 25, 2010 - Although the packets were finally distributed on or around May 5, some Chicago Census takers ("enumerators") are still under orders from supervisors to "work slow." What is "slow?" "No more than one household per hour," that's what. This is your tax dollars at work. The Bureau of the Census now KNOWS this: At 9:55 a.m. (CDT) today, someone at the Bureau Of The Census (IP 148.129.71.54) in Gastonia, North Carolina read this very post. May 2, 2010 - At least some of the U.S. Census Bureau's Chicago field operations do not have enough paperwork packets for their Census takers. As a result, some Census takers have been ordered by supervisors to "work slow" and to not contact "more than one" household per hour, while others have been getting less paid hourly work than they could have gotten. The field packets and paperwork they need have not been properly distributed by the Chicago Regional Census Center, located in the Citigroup Center at 500 West Madison. Census takers in Chicago start at $18.25 per hour. They are paid for up to four days of training, but are then paid only for the hours that they are out knocking on doors of addresses known to have not responded yet to the Census. Some of the small field centers in various neighborhoods have still not received enough packets for all of the Census takers recently hired and trained, which means that some of them will not be able to knock and doors and, therefore, not paid. More on this story here...

Census Workers Told To "Work Slow," Shortage of Packets (Update 3)

April 30, 2010 - CHICAGO - Chicago News Bench has learned from an inside source that at least some of the U.S. Census Bureau's Chicago offices do not have enough packets for their Census takers, and some Census takers have been ordered by supervisors to "work slow" and to not contact "more than one" household per hour. UPDATE, May 25, 2010 - Although the packets were finally distributed on or around May 5, some Chicago Census takers ("enumerators") are still under orders from supervisors to "work slow." This is your tax dollars at work. The Bureau of the Census now KNOWS this: At 9:55 a.m. (CDT) today, someone at the Bureau Of The Census (IP 148.129.71.54) in Gastonia, North Carolina read our related post. UPDATE, May 2, 2010 - Some U.S. Census takers in Chicago are being denied work because the field packets and paperwork they need have not been properly distributed by the Chicago Regional Census Center, located in the Citigroup Center at 500 West Madison. Census takers in Chicago start at $18.25 per hour. They are paid for up to four days of training, but are then paid only for the hours that they are out knocking on doors of addresses known to have not responded yet to the Census. Some of the small field centers in various neighborhoods have still not received enough packets for all of the Census takers recently hired and trained, which means that some of them will not be able to knock and doors and, therefore, not paid. On May 1, U.S. Census takers hit the streets to knock on doors in a widely publicized push to get more information about American households in the Bureau's "2010 Census Complete Count Door-to-Door Follow-Up Operations." In Chicago, they will be paid $18.25 or more per hour or more to "work slow." There are three ways that you can a U.S. Census Bureau worker:1) They will have a shoulder bag with the “U.S. Census Worker” logo; 2) They will have a Census Bureau ID badge; 3) They will be walking very slowly or napping in a coffee shop. For your safety: Census Takers will never ask to come inside a person’s home. If you are suspicious of any Census taker, you should call their Regional Census Center. Find a list of those centers here. Also see: Identifying a 2010 Census Taker (Enumerator) and How to Identify a Census Field Representative RELATED:Map of U.S. Census Taker Pay Rates Chicago Lags Behind National Census Participation Goal‎ Chicago Public Radio Officials: Beware of possible census scams‎ ABC7Chicago.com Chicago Regional Census Center (2010 Census)Citigroup Center 500 West Madison, Room 1600 Chicago, IL 60661 (312) 454-2700 or 1-866-861-2010 FAX: (312) 454-2789 Chicago Regional Office1111 W. 22nd Street, Suite 400 Oak Brook, IL 60523-1918 (630) 288-9200 or 1-800-865-6384 FAX: (630) 288-9288 TDD: (708) 562-1791 E-mail: Chicago.Regional.Office@census.gov

Help Bring Transparency to Grayslake D46 Schools

UPDATE, 2/4/2010: Watch the entire two hours of the meeting at EducationMatters.us February 3, 2010 - Help bring transparency to Grayslake D46 Schools - This is a call to action for transparency advocates. There is a General Meeting TONIGHT of the Community Consolidated School District 46 Board of Education and you are urged to be there. (Note: You can watch the meeting as live streaming video beginning at 7:00 PM: Click to View Live Video Streaming 7:00 PM.) Joe Calomino of the Americans for Prosperity will join in a request for the school district to put it’s check register online. You can read the original request here. The district has been spending frivolously in this economy (links below) and now wants to make over $2 million in cuts. Despite this, they have not been willing to provide data to the public on how they spend their money. It's time to demand an end to this behavior. To put it simply, “No Info, No Taxes”. Please attend the meeting tonight. You do not have to speak, just make your presence felt by being in the audience. Grayslake Middle School District 46 Board Meeting Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 7:00 pm 440 Barron Boulevard, Grayslake (847) 223-3680 Here are a few past stories of district expenditures: D46 Admin Pay Raises? Grayslake Elementary Cuts 29 Jobs – Who's to Blame Grayslake school district employees going to Disney World Dist. 46 board says sending group to Disney money well spent Money tight? Let’s go to Disney World District 46 Paid For Awards District 46 Superintendent Ellen Correll Defends Paying For Consultant Who Gave Awards CLC finances reeling from state funding lapses District 46 using a guide in considering budget cuts Let's Talk - PPFA - National Family Sexuality Education Month ... Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

How Cook County Townships Waste Your Money

EXCLUSIVE BGA / ABC 7 NEWS INVESTIGATION: HOW TOWNSHIPS WASTE YOUR MONEY THE TAXING FACTS ABOUT TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT Chicago - November 26, 2009 - The Better Government Association and ABC 7 News have joined together to expose massive waste and mismanagement by the Townships of Cook County. Fed up and frustrated taxpayers can be grateful on this Thanksgiving holiday that the truth about this antiquated and highly-politicized layer of government is finally being told. BGA Executive Director Andy Shaw said, "The State of Illinois has more layers of government than any other state in the union and Cook County Townships are a seldom scrutinized bureaucracy spending millions of your tax dollars with virtually zero oversight. Until now, nobody's paid attention and taxpayers just continue to pay the bills with no questions asked. Today, the BGA, in an historic partnership with ABC's I-Team, are working to change that equation. We believe it is time for taxpayers to find out if townships are an unnecessary and unproductive drain on our limited resources." The BGA and ABC 7's Investigative Reporter Chuck Goudie combed through reams of data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to reveal what few people have seen before. Working with a BGA forensic accountant, we are shedding light on where your money is being spent and how it is being wasted. We've assembled an interactive map and we're making a complete payroll database public because we think you should know what your government is doing or not doing. •Should it cost $50,000 to maintain one mile of road? •Should dozens of townships employ assessors at a cost of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars when those township assessors do NO assessments? •Should an Illinois State Senator making over $88,000 a year be paid an additional $70,000 a year to be Stickney Township Supervisor -- a part-time job? •Should the townships provide do-little jobs for friends, families and supporters of politicians? THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO LEARN MORE & HELP US STOP THESE ABUSES: 1. Go to BetterGov.org and use our interactive map to see what your township is up to. We've provided the name, telephone number and e-mail address for each of the township supervisors so you can speak out and tell them what you think about what the BGA and ABC 7 discovered during our ongoing investigation. 2. Watch ABC 7's video. 3. Go to BetterGov.org and click on Payroll Database to see the entire township employee payroll. While you are there, sign up to join the BGA in our fight to eliminate waste, fraud, corruption, malfeasance and mismanagement from all levels of our government. CONTACT: Mark LaMet Director of Investigations (312) 427-8330 Better Government Association 11 E. Adams Street, Suite 608 - Chicago IL 60603 P (312) 427-8330 F (312) 386-9203 www.bettergov.org The Better Government Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Leave a Comment Conservative T-Shirts Follow CNB on Twitter RSS Feed

$2 Billion More for Failed "Cars for Cash"

In a knee-jerk reaction to spectacular failure, Congress has just approved an additional $2 Billion for the "Cash for Cars" program. That's the program that ran out of money after much less than a month of operation. It's intended purpose is to stimulate new car sales by giving customers a rebate of up to $4,500 when they trade in an old car for a new one. Let's do some math.... The program ran out of its original $1 Billion in a matter of days. So, how many more days will it be before the additional $2 Billion runs out? The program, officially known as CARS (Car Allowance Rebate System), is a bureaucratic nightmare full of red tape. In other words, business as usual for a federal program. Rather than actually fixing the confusing program (see video report, WTNH), Congress simply threw more money at it. RELATED: US House approves $2 billion more for 'clunkers' - The Detroit News McCaskill says no mas on “Cash for Clunkers” - Columbia Business Times How Government Health Care Would Work (see Cash for Clunkers) - CNB Let Ford Recycle Your Ride - Find out if you qualify! - Ford Leave a Comment... See Our Online Store Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...

How Government Health Care Would Work (see Cash for Clunkers)

UPDATE 7/31/2009: $2 Billion More for Failed "Cars for Cash" The federal government wants to help you buy a new car. They just don't know how to do that efficiently. How typical. A program called "Cash for Clunkers," which started on July 1, has already burned its $1 Billion in funding, and members of Congress are making a confused rush to "fix" the program. The program is officially called CARS (Car Allowance Rebate System) (see the website here). The CARS website makes no mention of the program's funding crisis. A PDF document there says, "The estimated funds remaining shown on the gauge to the right are estimated funds only. This page will be updated daily for informational purposes only. This is not official fund balancedealers should refer to when entering in their transactions." Problem is, there is no guage shown and they are not updating it daily as stated. At 10:40 am (CDT) on July 31, the PDF stated that the document was "Last updated 7/28/2009 at 9am EST." The idea behind Cash for Clunkers was to give hefty rebates to people for trading in their old cars. "Under the plan as enacted," reports CNN, "vehicles purchased after July 1 will be eligible for refund vouchers worth $3,500 to $4,500 on traded-in gas guzzlers. The trade-in vehicle has to get combined city and highway fuel economy ratings of 18 miles per gallon or less." Poorly funded, poorly administrated, poorly planned to begin with, Cash for Clunkers serves as a precursor of how government run health care would work. Moe Lane wrote a good summary of the situation on July 30, which noted the following (emphasis added): "...the program started on July 1, they only published the actual rules Friday, and they’re still working out how to get the dealers their money. If you’re shrugging over that, consider this: what’s essentially happening here is that car dealerships are giving $4,500 interest-free, unguaranteed loans to the federal government… and the determination of whether or not those loans get paid off is more or less going to be at the discretion of mid-level bureaucrats at the NHTSA. Even if they do repay every loan, it’s apparently going to take time for the system to smooth out; it’s an open question whether it’ll straighten out before the official end of the program in November. And the car dealerships - the only producers of goods in this particular equation, and the ones that the government is ostensibly trying to help - get all the headaches." How would you like health care to be run like that? You wouldn't, of course, but remember that the same fools who cobbled together Cash for Cars are the same fools who slammed together the 1,018 page health care legislation that just failed to pass in Congress. How many members of Congress have actually read the entire 1,018 page document, let alone actually understand it? The Cars for Cash legislation was far fewer pages and far less complicated, yet it collapsed in spectacular failure within a month of beginning. In typical government fashion, more money is being sought to extend the horrible program. According to CNN, "One of the program's main champions in Congress, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told CNN that the Michigan, Ohio and Indiana congressional delegations are working on a $2 billion extension of Clunkers program." It is the stupidity and mad inefficiency of programs like Cash for Clunkers that has so many Americans leary of any government run health care. People are right to question how well an extremely complicated system such as health care - which directly affects life and death medical decisions - when a simple used car program is so badly screwed up by the very people who want to control your medical care. RELATED: Government's 'Cash for Clunkers' Program Runs Out of Gas Early ... - Wall Street Journal Congress rushing to further fund cash for clunkers - Baltimore Sun Cash For Clunkers Funds Gone in One Week? - autoloandaily.com US Launches 'Cash For Clunkers' Initiative - Voice of America Poll: More Americans wary of Barack Obama's health care plan ... CSMonitor.com Leave a Comment... See Our Online Store Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...

Tony Peraica,"Just Say No!"

A message today from Cook County Commish Tony Peraica. (He's such a trouble maker!) What's Tony worked up about this time? He wants you, the taxpayers of Cook County, to urge the county commissioners "to vote against the massive new debt that Todd Stroger has proposed in the form of hundreds of millions in new bonds." Read Tony Peraica's message, "Heed the Tribune’s Call: Tell Your Commissioner to Vote ‘No’ On Back Door Tax Hikes." Then, just do it. You'll feel like you did something constructive today. When you're done calling your Cook County Commissioners, watch the video "Crook County - A Quick Conversation about Chicago Politics" at YouTube. Finally, just for laughs, read this: Todd Stroger Turns It On! CNB RSS Feed

Flash - Stimulus Money for Illegal Aliens?

Is there a sharp lawyer out there who can bring charges of treason against the bastid Harry Reid? You MUST read this: Reid blocks bipartisan amendment requiring citizenship verification for stimulus recipients, February 8, 2009 10:28 PM by Michelle Malkin More Malkin: Porkulus math: A breakdown of Collins/Nelson stimulus changes CNB RSS Feed

Chicago Health Dept's Shameful Waste

Lousy record keeping and shoddy management at the Chicago Health Department is wasting a lot of money and a lot of medicinal drugs. The audit of a Chicago Health Department warehouse revealed that nearly $1 million's worth of drugs had either expired or disappeared, due to shoddy record-keeping and/or lax security. The warehouse on the Near North Side stored medicines, vaccines, birth control, antibiotics, condoms and baby formula, but nothing harder than that. The city lost its license to handle harder drugs last year for the same reason: poor record-keeping. Read more at Chicagoist... Remember folks, that's government wasting your money and letting life-saving drugs go to waste. And you want government to take over your health care? You'd better think that over a bit more. CNB RSS Feed