Just when you thought it was impossible for the sordid tale of the pawn broker, the prostitute and the Democratic nomination to get any more ridiculous, Amanda Eneman, the massage therapist who was convicted of prostitution following her entry of a guilty plea in a 2005 misdemeanor case, has chosen to be represented by celebrity attorney, Gloria Allred.

Allred, whose love of television cameras and radio microphones rivals that of the ubiquitous Reverend Jesse Jackson, denounced Scott Lee Cohen on behalf of her client and repeated the masseuse’s claim that …

From Cafe Hayek

The President is a man of principle. The WaPo reports:
Obama said he told House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that his core goals — lowering health-care costs for businesses and individuals and expanding coverage to the uninsured — remained non-negotiable.
So what better way to increase productivity and lower costs than to add 111 new boards and commissions to the slick infrastructure of health care provision in the US?
1. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 111(d), p. 61)
2. Grant program for wellness programs to small employers (Section 112, p. 62)
3. Grant …

The Illinois Policy Institute has partnered with Citizens Against Government Waste to put together the book that Springfield doesn’t want you to read, profiling over $350 million in wasteful spending.

Highlights include:

$6,500 for a tub of live bass. The state paid for fishing seminars and demonstrations using a 4,000 gallon, 40-foot long tank filled with live fish.
$353,165 for car racing. The state is funding Raceway Associates, which partners with big-time 
races like the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, as well as a massive construction grant for Atkinson 
Motorsports Park in northwestern …

Nothing brings a greedy gleam to the eye of a plaintiff’s trial lawyer like a “baby case,” as they crudely call them. They mean a case against a doctor or hospital involving a baby allegedly injured or killed during the birthing process. The lawyers stand to pocket millions of dollars without even breaking a sweat. That is exactly the situation the Illinois Supreme Court decided to perpetuate by ruling last Thursday (Feb. 4, 2010) ceilings on noneconomic damages are unconstitutional.

Damages fall into two categories: economic and noneconomic.  Economic …

Rep Jan Schakowsky advising Scott Lee Cohen on the mud slung in politics?
Geez, of all people to advise Cohen to step aside because of the mud slung in politics. Schakowsky’s husband Bob Creamer did some hard-time down at Terre Haute for a check kiting scheme and the two of them still walk tall. If Schakowsky’s calling shots here, Cohen oughtta stay. Who’s Schakosky and Creamer to talk.
Rep Jan Schakowsky advising Scott Lee Cohen on the mud slung in politics
Geez, of all people to advise Cohen to step aside because of …

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was re-indicted in his corruption case today as prosecutors seek to keep an upcoming decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on “honest services” fraud from delaying Blagojevich’s June trial.

The new 24-count indictment was handed up by a federal grand jury, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago announced.
(Read the indictment HERE. Read a government filing explaining the new indictment HERE.
Read a government fact sheet on the case HERE.)
More at the Chicago Tribune

Before the White House commits any more money to Fannie and Freddie, the Justice Department should begin an investigationinto the cause Fannie and Freddie’s conservatorship, into Rahm Emanuel’s activities on the board of Freddie Mac (including any violations of his fiduciary duties to shareholders), into the decision making behind the vacancy of Fannie and Freddie’s Inspector General, and into potential public corruption by Rahm Emanuel in connection with his time in Congress, in the White House and on the board of Freddie Mac.  We also call for the immediate appointment …

Direct e-mail solicitations on behalf of the McKenna/Murphy candidates began several months ago from a Notre Dame classmate of McKenna. Last fall, I mysteriously received “McKenna for Illinois” solicitations as part of their e-mail list server. To my astonishment, the campaign was using an e-mail address listed only with the Notre Dame Alumni Association … and only temporarily for two weeks while moving.
The campaign began with an innocent “fellow classmate” endorsement announcing that McKenna had become a candidate and noted reasons why classmates should provide support to him. For months …

Its Algebra vs. Civics at New Trier High School in a report obtained via the Freedom of Information Act from the New Trier Township High School District.  In a bond referendum before New Trier voters next week, the School Board is asking for a tax hike to finance a $174 Million capital project at the Winnetka campus.  Per the campaign (financed by the School Board) the costs to a property taxpayer currently spending $10,000 per year will increase by $248 per year over each of the next 20 years.

However, an …

Broadway Bank, the troubled Chicago lender owned by the family of Illinois Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias, has entered into a consent order with banking regulators requiring it to raise tens of millions in capital, stop paying dividends to the family without regulatory approval, and hire an outside party to evaluate the bank’s senior management.
The Jan. 26 consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Illinois Division of Banking comes less than a week before Mr. Giannoulias — Broadway’s chief lender and then vice-president from 2002 …