This being Lincoln’s Birthday, it seems appropriate to show you what I found at the main library of the Algonquin Area Library District.
It’s Lincoln’s name with letters most of which seem to be taken from Illinois license plates.
Abe Lincoln’s name made from license plates.
The renovated Illinois House of Representatives chamber from the Democratic Party side.
One of the way lawyers in the General Assembly make money is by attracting clients who have not only a business agenda, but a legislative agenda.
Because state law does not require attorneys to list their clients, there’s no central place to look to see if a particular lawyer-legislator is benefiting personally from his legislative position.
Now comes evidence in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from neighboring state Wisconsin that this practice actually existed in Wisconsin.
Columnist Daniel Bice writes of two admitted felons asking for rollbacks of their verdicts based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Enron Jeff Skilling “honest services” case.
That’s the case U.S. Attorneys have used to convict numerous politicians whom, it was argued, did not provide their constituents with “honest services.” The Supreme Court ruled that was not a specific enough crime, that to fit there had to be a bribe or a kickback.
Most Illinois politicians, a highly evolved species, know better than to be involved in such direct behavior. They prefer the “I’ll do a favor for you now,” “You do a favor for me down the road” approach.
Anticipation of the Supreme Court decision required a last minute re-work of the case against Rod Blagojevich.
Now Bice is telling readers that Nicholas Hurtgen, a Wisconsin political operative turned Bear Stearn biggie in Chicago is seeking to withdraw his guilty plea.
Hurtgen, of course, was involved in the Crystal Lake Mercy Hospital scandal.
But the more interesting part of the column is the information about ex-State Senator Gary George, described as the most powerful African-American politician in Wisconsin. He “pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for accepting kickbacks of legal fees paid by an inner-city social service agency” and is now out of prison.
Now read what the man with a now-suspended law license says,
“”It is not bribery behavior under federal law to seek and receive legal work as a state legislator.”
Think that might apply to lawyer-legislators in Illinois?
= = = = =
After finishing this, I found this commentary on lawyer-legislator Abraham Lincoln on Tom Roeser’s blog:
Anyone who has deeply studied Lincoln, a political and literary genius, knows that he was a successful railroad lawyer while he was a state legislator…knows that he unfurled a map of Illinois on his desk in the House and bargained the routes of railroad lines across the state, making deals on what towns the trains would stop at…which he used to run for the U. S. Senate where he got more votes than Stephen A. Douglas (not that it did him any good as the legislatures in those days named U. S. senators and they picked Douglas).Remember there were no serious conflict of interest laws then binding state lawmakers.
Yesterday in an article entitled
McHenry County Blog started a three-part series on what happened when the GOP candidate came to Crystal Lake.
Stephanie Dillard talks with Irene Napier and Joyce Story after the breakfast at 1776.
Besides covering pensions and a new tax credit for contributions to charitable organizations, Dillard also spoke favorably about subsidizing private schools, noting that their being open saved taxpayers lots of money.
He said he wanted to increase it (the tax credit) to “make it meaningful.”
There were lots of claps in the roomful of women.
A business woman asked the candidate about reforming Workers Compensation.
“I’ve already begun talking to unions about this,” he said. Dillard advanced a voluntary arbitration plan which would “cut the trial lawyers out of the system,” encouraging “faster payment and more money.”
He stressed that it would not be mandatory, but would be accomplished through collective bargaining.
Advocating an “agreed bill” process he said,
“I’m going to lock these folks (business and union officials) in a room in the mansion (until they bring) Workers Comp costs in line with the nation.”
In a nod to the historically-minded, Dillard told of having spent ten years trying to get his father-in-law to donate the bedroom set in his house to the Executive Mansion.
I can’t remember the number of great-greats, but one of those great-grandmothers of Dillard’s wife Stephanie bore a child in the bed while her husband, Gov. Richard Oglesby, was in office during the mid-1900′s. Oglesby nominated Abraham Lincoln for president.
If her husband is elected governor, Mrs. Dillard promised,
“I won’t be giving birth in the mansion.”
Near the end of the formal part of the gathering, the state senator urged the women to go back to work to improve the economy and, incidentally, the health of the state’s finances.
“That’s the best way to grow the economy.”
He wants them to shop, too, I guess, because he added,
“We need the sales tax revenue.”
One of our family’s stops on our Western Odyssey was Mount Rushmore.
We went for the nighttime presentation.
I was expecting a light show and was disappointed.
The light show I remember as being excellent was in front of Springfield’s Old State Capitol during the 1970′s. The lights bounced around the area highlighting various parts of the Old Capitol, Lincoln’s law office and other places as the narrative indicated.
As the Mount Rushmore program proceeded, I expected spotlights to bounce from Washington to Jefferson to Lincoln to TR as the role of each was described.
The faces remained in their natural light state until almost the end of the program.
Then all the faces were uniformly lit, as you can see on top.
The narrative talked about presidents after Teddy Roosevelt, but didn’t name any of them.
I listened closely to see of the Barack Obama propagandists had edited what was said.
When I did not hear the word “hope” once, I concluded that that they had not yet done so.
One of the questions that one of us came up with was
Tomorrow I’ll reveal the perfect spot that we found late on our vacation.
At last weekend’s services at Catholic Church services in the Chicago Archdiocese a letter from Cardinal Francis George was distributed in church bulletins.
It speaks to House Bill 2354, the bill which stimulated McHenry County pro-life to run an ad urging a withdrawal of support for the bill by co-sponsoring State Representatives Jack Franks (D-Marengo) and Mark Beaubien (R-Barrington Hills).
And also stimulated the demonstration in front of State Rep. Franks’ Route 47 office.
Cardinal George emphasizes the removal of “the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers.”
Rarely has the Catholic Church been this fully engaged in Springfield politics.
But as often happens when zealots take complete control, they try to push through legislative language which activates the other side. In this case, the rabidly pro-abortion Personal PAC overplayed its hand. Now it has the Catholic Church’s hierarchy with which to contend.
The bill “will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue to be places where life is always respected, where no one is deliberately killed,” the Cardinal explains.
He evokes Abraham Lincoln’s 1844 defense of Catholics’ “rights of conscience,” even though his Whig Party is described as “often anti-Catholic.”
The entire entire letter follows:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
In the midst of Lent, with its drama of sin and grace, of evil and good, I write about a threat to our freedom to practice our religion in our State.
Before the Illinois General Assembly there is a proposal (HB 2354, the “Reproductive Health and Access Act”) that would remove the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers.
Thirty years ago, we were told that abortion is a rare but necessary tragedy and that abortion providers should not be legally punished.
Today we are being told that abortion is a human right and that those who qualify it in any manner or who will not provide it should be legally punished.
This proposed law will drive Catholic doctors and nurses from health care and will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue to be places where life is always respected, where no one is deliberately killed.
In our country, we recognize conscientious objection to war, even though defending one’s country is a noble and moral act.
We recognize the conscientious objection of those doctors who will not cooperate in administering the death penalty, even for terrible crimes.
Why do some Illinois legislators want to take away conscientious objection to abortion?
The enemies of human life and religious freedom in Illinois are well funded.
Pressure on legislators is great and is increasing.
I ask you to contact your Representative this week to express your dismay that the Illinois legislature, elected democratically, would debate a bill that removes freedom of conscientious decision-making for health care workers as a condition of their employment.
If, as we are told, the State should not come between a doctor and a mother, then surely all can agree that the State should not come between a health care worker and God.
We have, unfortunately, had to get used to the fact that our laws no longer protect unborn human life; now we are to get used to the fact that our laws will no longer protect conscience.
In 1844, Abraham Lincoln broke with his own party, the often anti-Catholic Whigs, and proposed:
“Resolved, that the guarantee of the rights of conscience, as found in our Constitution, is most sacred and inviolable, and one that belongs no less to the Catholic, than to the Protestant; and that all attempts to abridge or interfere with these rights, either of Catholic or Protestant, directly or indirectly, have our decided disapprobation, and shall ever have our most effective opposition.”Illinois HB 2354 betrays the legacy of Lincoln in his home State.
This proposed law will rend the already fragile garment of our civic unity and further alienate many from our government. Catholics and all people of good will should work to ensure its defeat. I also ask you to thank those legislators who are courageously opposing HB 2354 and to pray for those who are supporting it. To contact your legislator, please go to www.ilga.gov, or call 312-368-1066.
Thank you and God bless you.
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
Really parts of license plates.I found this striking combination of license plates in the main branch of the Algonquin Public Library.
It’s in a display case downstairs.
In late January I got the following email from Bill Edminster, Assistant Director of the McHenry Public Library District:
“I’m writing on behalf of the McHenry County Librarians group, which represents all the libraries that serve McHenry County.“I hope that you will join us in our county-wide program for a simultaneous reading of the Gettysburg Address on February 12, 2009.”
The text of our press release follows:
“February 12, 2009 will be the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. At 1:30 p.m. on that day, community readings of the Gettysburg Address will be held at each of the libraries in McHenry County to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime event.
“Anyone can participate.
“Consult your local libraries for the locations to join in the reading in your area and for other commemorative events. Copies of the Gettysburg Address will be available at your local public library before the event so that individuals, businesses, and private groups can commemorate Lincoln’s legacy wherever they are.”
Here’s Lincoln’s speech:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
“We are met on a great battle-field of that war.
“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground.
“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
“The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us
“Please let us know if you’d like to participate from your home or place of business by emailing your name or your group’s name as well as how many people are participating to lincolnsubmissions@gmail.com.
“The libraries of McHenry County are sponsoring this countywide event in conjunction with the McHenry County Lincoln Birthday Celebration Planning Committee.”
And, if you want to join the McHenry County celebration being put together by county board member Tina Hill, here are more details from the
county website:Lincoln Birthday Celebration Gala
When
February 21, 2009
Where
Dole Mansion
401 Country Club Road
Crystal Lake, Illinois
Please send contributions or purchase tickets to McHenry County Lincoln Birthday Committee, McHenry County Government Center c/o Tina Hill, 2200 North Seminary Avenue, Woodstock, Illinois 60098
Really parts of license plates.I found this striking combination of license plates in the main branch of the Algonquin Public Library.
It’s in a display case downstairs.
In late January I got the following email from Bill Edminster, Assistant Director of the McHenry Public Library District:
“I’m writing on behalf of the McHenry County Librarians group, which represents all the libraries that serve McHenry County.“I hope that you will join us in our county-wide program for a simultaneous reading of the Gettysburg Address on February 12, 2009.”
The text of our press release follows:
“February 12, 2009 will be the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. At 1:30 p.m. on that day, community readings of the Gettysburg Address will be held at each of the libraries in McHenry County to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime event.
“Anyone can participate.
“Consult your local libraries for the locations to join in the reading in your area and for other commemorative events. Copies of the Gettysburg Address will be available at your local public library before the event so that individuals, businesses, and private groups can commemorate Lincoln’s legacy wherever they are.”
Here’s Lincoln’s speech:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
“We are met on a great battle-field of that war.
“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground.
“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
“The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us
“Please let us know if you’d like to participate from your home or place of business by emailing your name or your group’s name as well as how many people are participating to lincolnsubmissions@gmail.com.
“The libraries of McHenry County are sponsoring this countywide event in conjunction with the McHenry County Lincoln Birthday Celebration Planning Committee.”
And, if you want to join the McHenry County celebration being put together by county board member Tina Hill, here are more details from the
county website:Lincoln Birthday Celebration Gala
When
February 21, 2009
Where
Dole Mansion
401 Country Club Road
Crystal Lake, Illinois
Please send contributions or purchase tickets to McHenry County Lincoln Birthday Committee, McHenry County Government Center c/o Tina Hill, 2200 North Seminary Avenue, Woodstock, Illinois 60098
My son is a sponge. He just soaks up new information
When I tell him the meaning of a new word, he internalizes it and says,
“Oh.”
Just delightful.
Today, see if you can see an anachronism in this picture of Abraham Lincoln’s neighborhood in Springfield.
I remember when I learned the word. It was while we were studying “Julius Caesar” in high school.
I don’t know if it was the clock striking three or some other part, but that’s when I learned the word.
Look at this picture of the street with Lincoln’s home in the background.
Find what did not exist at the time Lincoln lived there.
And the people and the wheel chair in the picture don’t count. (Click to enlarge the photo.)
Answer tomorrow.
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