Chicago Daily Observer

A little over a month ago nearly half the priests in the southern Illinois diocese of Belleville signed a letter demanding the resignation of their Bishop, Edward Braxton. It was the culmination of three years of controversy, in which priests and nuns had publicly attacked the Bishop, accusing him of many things, the most serious of which was the misappropriation of diocesan funds. Bishop Braxton responded on Good Friday with a statement detailing how he had been threatened by priests and warned not to take the appointment even before he was installed. I examined the charges against him in an article here last month and found little substantiation, but some serious problems on the part of the accusers (see Resentment in Search of a Grievance).
The controversy continues to simmer, though it is no longer at the white heat it had reached last month. As claims of misappropriation and ... Read More...

Rumors abound of Republican leaders, both great and small, diligently working to persuade Jim Oberweis to step aside as the Republican nominee for Congress in the 14th district. Much of the party has been in shock since losing the seat long held by former speaker Denny Hastert in a special election in early February. I am not sure how a party in apparent disarray will advance itself by adding yet another element of public chaos into the mix.
First of all, for whom should Oberweis step aside? Unless the political reincarnation of Ronald Reagan is waiting in the wings such a move would only underline the tumult in the GOP without improving chances of taking back the seat.
The most important element in any political movement or campaign is a clear, credible, coherent and compelling message. It is more important than money. It is the wellspring ... Read More...

For two years now nearly half the priests in the Southern Illinois diocese of Belleville have been in rebellion against their bishop, Edward K. Braxton. Among the priestly complaints against Braxton are that he does not consult them, has misappropriated funds, and is pretentious and arrogant. On Wednesday, March 12, the rebellion led to a letter signed by 46 of the diocesan priests (nearly half) calling for the bishop’s resignation. What is most peculiar – and perhaps most revealing – about the nature of this rebellion is that it began three months before Braxton was even installed as bishop. On Good Friday, March 21, Braxton broke the long-standing silence he has maintained on the subject in a letter to parishioners and priests of the diocese.

The tale Braxton tells is astonishing, perhaps even unprecedented. The Bishop says that days before his installment, he met with a group of diocesan priests ... Read More...

I’m going to go out on a limb here and call this Saturday’s special election in Illinois’ 14th district for Republican Jim Oberweis. He should prevail with 54% of the vote. It doesn’t match the gargantuan 60–70% victories Denny Hastert routinely racked up and is a shade less than the 55% President Bush pulled in the district in 2004. Still, it will be enough to send Oberweis to Congress for the next 10 months. It will also, paradoxically, provide bragging rights for almost everyone.
Democrats will crow that such a low margin of victory in what has seemed for many decades to be a safe citadel of Republican politics is a harbinger of a rising Democratic tide. Republicans can argue that, coming on the heels of a bitter primary fight from which there was little time to heal and bucking the near-messianic movement that has been the Obama presidential ... Read More...

Inspiration has struck. I have come upon a solution to the problem of illegal immigration that will almost entirely eliminate it, vastly expand our economy, dramatically improve the economy of Mexico and inspire millions of Mexicans now here illegally to return to their native territory. It will enhance our own national security by making our southern border much easier to patrol. To wit, invite Mexico to petition for statehood. If she refuses, declare war and forcibly annex her. But if she forces us to go the latter route, she will have to spend 10–20 years as a mere territory or protectorate.

In an instant all the Mexican illegals here would become just as legal as a family who, say, emigrated from Nevada to Illinois. Landscaping companies would no longer have to do burdensome and expensive background checks. Employers would not have to worry about being caught between the twin pincers ... Read More...

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the chance to do something right. Last month Illinois became the third state to pass the National Popular Vote Bill, which would direct a state’s presidential electors to cast their votes for whoever wins the national popular vote. But in Illinois, unlike Maryland and New Jersey, the bill has not yet become law. In this state the governor has not yet signed the legislation – and has told reporters he is not sure if he will.

On most matters we show a certain reverence for the founders. Well we should. They created the first democratic republic in history that did not rapidly degenerate into chaos and end in dictatorship. Their achievement is profound: while the United States is one of the youngest nations on the planet we have the oldest continuous form of government. That achievement is doubly impressive if one is aware that, historically, ... Read More...

Another week, another massacre on the grounds of one of our schools, this time so close to home, at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Five are dead, six counting the murderer. It is eerie when such a massacre happens at a place one knows so well. You picture in your mind the times you have been at the kill zones, thanking God that Valentine’s Day this year wasn’t one of them.

We’ll send out an army of ‘grief counselors’ and, like Claude Raines in Casablanca, round up the usual suspects. There will be calls for more gun control, dealing with bullies, watching for warning signs, blah, blah, blah…and it is all so futile. When my father went to elementary and high school in rural Alabama and Mississippi they had gun racks for the students. The sight of a kid coming to school with a gun evoked a sense of security, ... Read More...

For Illinois Republicans this is the midst of a great depression. The news that suburban voters, even in the GOP heartland of DuPage County, pulled more Democrat than Republican ballots in the primary is an ominous foreshadowing of a very bleak November.

The likely presence of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on the national ticket makes a bad situation much worse. Obama is a favorite son who has energized the Democratic party nationally and has whipped it up to frenzy here in Illinois. The odds are very strong that Obama will be on the national ticket. I picked him to win last summer, believing there were just too many Democrats who don’t like Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Now, though, even if Clinton’s organizational strength prevails she almost has to work hard to persuade him to take the vice-presidential slot, whatever her personal preferences. With the racially-charged attacks the Clintons made ... Read More...

Multi-kazillionaire Warren Buffett this week renewed his annual plea for government to soak the middle class. He didn’t put it in quite those words. What he said was that he wanted Congress to raise income taxes on multi-kazillionaires like himself because he isn’t paying his fair share – and he is willing. The left loves to trot out such noble and self-sacrificial-sounding sentiments from the super-rich. But it is not a formula for soaking the rich: it is a formula for soaking the working man – and Warren Buffett knows it. Let me tell you why.
For the truly rich their income is merely their surplus, the fat on the meat of their holdings. Their substance is in their personal property and investment instruments. For the working man his income IS his substance, the only meat he has on his bones. So the proper translation of a plea like ... Read More...

If, as many are speculating, former Speaker Denny Hastert resigns his Congressional seat in early November, it could set up a truly bizarre spectacle on Feb. 5, 2008: the winner of the general special election to fill the unexpired term (likely to be held that day) could simultaneously lose his primary for the regular term. That would not just be a lame duck, but a duck born lame.
As the scenario is developing it seems likely that Hastert will step down then. If a seat in congress will be vacant for more than 180 days the governor must call a special election. In this case there would be two, a special primary before the regular primary and a special general. The special primary would probably be in late December or early January. It would almost certainly be a low turnout affair.
Most observers think the scenario has ... Read More...

It is just a few weeks before candidates start passing petitions to get themselves on primary ballots. In many districts potential candidates who were expected to file won’t – while surprise entries emerge. Thus it always is as the first stage of speculation gives way to facts on the ground. Here are five districts to keep an eye on:
14th. This is retiring former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert’s district. The Republican battle to replace him is shaping up as one between east and west. While both Dairy Magnate Jim Oberweis and State Senator Chris Lauzen reside in the eastern part of the district, Lauzen has a huge grassroots army in the east where his senate district lies. Oberweis, no slouch at grassroots politics himself, is strong throughout the district. Oberweis has vastly more money than Lauzen. Oberweis is in the unusual position of being the establishment candidate ... Read More...

Four years ago Madison County in the Metro East (the Illinois side of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area) was the national epicenter of lawsuit abuse. It was the home of what famously came to be called ‘Jackpot Justice’. It was a hard issue for much of the public to understand. They could not easily see the products that never came to market, the jobs that were lost, and the huge extra costs added to products and insurance to fund outrageous lottery-like verdicts.
But the trial lawyers had finally gone too far. Doctors were leaving the state, particularly in southern and northwestern Illinois, en masse because they could not afford the malpractice premiums – and the ruin that often ensued from even baseless suits. Some specialties almost vanished entirely. For a time, there was only one neurosurgeon in Illinois south of Springfield. Many insurance companies refused to offer malpractice ... Read More...

The Locusts are Back
By Charlie Johnston

Dick Durbin will not be our senator after next year. Let me explain why.
Winston Churchill described the decade when Europe could have been preparing for the threat of Hitler but did not as “…the years the locusts ate.” Yet the decade did serve a purpose. It first elevated to prominence and power and then unmasked all those little men who were unworthy of the nation. When the storm broke almost all the little men, having been clearly identified, were sent packing, never to hold power again.
In 2006 Democrats were very careful to hedge about the war, exaggerating every problem and blaming it on George Bush while pledging they would run it smarter. They screamed foul every time a Republican accurately described their program as one of defeat and retreat.
Now they have been in charge of ... Read More...