Chicago Daily Observer

The cost of gas is putting a pinch on household budgets, but Congress refuses to support measures that would reduce the cost of gas by increasing supplies, and making domestic production less expensive.

Join Americans for Prosperity’s 70-foot-tall hot air balloon at Peoria’s RiverFront Festival Park on Friday, August 15, at 5:00 PM for a discussion on American energy policy. Learn about the danger reactionary climate change legislation poses to our economy, local businesses, even your personal budget.

This will be a fun event and completed free with tethered hot air balloon rides (weather and wind permitting), music, and food. Be among the first 50 to pre-register online and get a free t-shirt.

Bring friends from work, family, your college, homeschool group, political group, other community associations! Click here for a printable flyer!

Here is the roundtable discussion of Illinois Politics with Tom Roeser, Jeff Berkowitz, and Charlie Johnson, from the WLS-AM 890 show “Shootout”

The interactivity takes over about 45 minutes into the show, with Illinois Senate Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) calling in.

HT: Jeff Berkowitz

n Springfield lately, one of the hottest items of chatter has been heavy buzz that Gov. Rod Blagojevich is getting ready to pretty much shut down the state’s network of foreign trade offices.

Jack Lavin, the state’s economic development chief, insists no final decision has been made as to how to fill a $1.7-million hole in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s budget.

But during a public appearance in Chicago earlier in the week, Mr. Blagojevich basically confirmed the tale, saying the General Assembly left him with a terrible budget deficit and some tough decisions: it’s either export offices in Brussels, Tokyo, Mexico City and seven other cities, or rape-crisis centers for assaulted women.

In the quarter ended July 31, Deere’s net income rose 7 percent to $575 million, or $1.32 a diluted share, from the year-ago $537 million, or $1.18 a share. Revenues grew by 17 percent, to $7.74 billion from $6.63 billion.

Per-share results fell short of the $1.36 a share analysts had been anticipating. Perhaps more unsettling, Deere cautioned Wall Street to expect fourth-quarter net of $425 million, significantly below the $491 million that analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted a 17% rise in fiscal second-quarter net income, topping raised expectations and prompting the company to boost its fiscal-year target.

But the company gave cautious initial guidance for the current quarter, largely falling below analysts’ estimates, as the world’s largest retailer expresses some caution about how U.S. shoppers will fare in coming months now that a boost from federal stimulus checks is running its course.

First, late Thursday evening, (Sen. Obama) gave a conventional written statement calling for calm, U.N. action and “restraint” from both sides—followed an hour later by a slightly stronger condemnation of Russian aggression and a call for a cease-fire.

The invasion of Georgia elicited a wan written communique instead of the sort of exciting rhetoric we’ve come to expect from his make-believe presidency. But he did make it in front of the cameras the next day for a rally celebrating his vacation in Hawaii. He promised “to go body surfing at some undisclosed location.”