Six weeks and counting

It's six weeks until the mid-term elections and it can't get here fast
enough. Six more weeks and hopefully Obama and his minions will be slowed
down dramtically, giving this country a chance to slow down the pace of
change and get us to 2012 without too much more damage. Heck we may even
have a shot at repeal of the government takeover of health care. I hope so
as I want to make my own health care decisions. I don't want them made by a
bureaucrat in Washington.

Businesses will be happy to see the elections come too as maybe the
uncertainty will end for them. They will get a clearer picture of where
issues of taxes, regulation and health care are headed. Only when business
is certain about these issues will they begin to create jobs once again.
Only when they know what they will be paying for health care for their
employees and what they will be paying in taxes will they then decide to
create jobs.

Unfortunately you have a President right now who has never worked in the
private sector so he doesn't know the first thing about how government
policy affects business. President Obama and his Democratic friends think
that government, not the private sector,creates jobs. This is, of course,
not the case. Government thinks right now that they are the only ones who
create jobs and that the private sector is evil. You see this here in
Illinois. All you have to do is read any news release from Gov. Quinn's
office to realize that Gov. Quinn spends money thinking it will create jobs.
That's what you see time and again as a justification for every project on
which there is a release. There are releases on broadband projects,
high-speed railroad service and highway interchanges just to name a few. Go
to www.Illinois.gov and click on news and then Governor's office and you
will see what I mean. What happens when these projects are finished? Where
are the jobs? Are these projections grounded in reality? Does anyone know?
I wonder why but won't speculate here.

You can look in other categories on the above-mentioned site to see what
else is going on. You will find out about regulations, appointments and the
like. There's not much in the area of budget fiscal, with nothing being
mentioned in this category since July. What are they doing to fix the
budget problems? Spending is obviously outpacing revenue and that can't be
sustained. We need long-term solutions that are not crisis-driven. We need
solutions that will stabilize the situation, not make it worse.

Six weeks until the mid-term elections and it can't get here fast enough.
Make sure you are registered and then that you vote for the candidates
youfeel will do the best job for the future of Illinois and the nation.

Ground Zero Mosque no way

I've been listening to all of the controversy surrounding the building of a
mosque/Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero. While those who own the
property on which this facility is to be built have the right to do what
they want with the property, does that mean they should? In this case the
answer to that question is a resounding NO!

They should have known that building a Mosque/Islamic Cultural Center so
close to Ground Zero would stir up some strong emotions, especially among
the families of those killed on September 11, 2001 by Islamic extremists.
Locating the facility where its backers want only serves to cause pain and
ill-will. These people should be more sensitive to the situation at hand.
There are other places further away from Ground Zero that this could be
built; and these options should be explored. This should have never gotten
this far due to the sensitive nature of this area.

As for the burning of the Quron to protest this Mosque/Cultural Center,
that's far out of bounds of free speech and is far beyond wrong and far
beyond being in extremely poor taste. It's extremely disgusting and should
never, ever happen. Disagreeing with a project is no reason for
dessicration of any religious symbol of any religion. Let's not inflame
the situation literally here.

I have not forgotten

Today is 9 years after 9-11, that horrible day when this country was
tragically and brutally attacked by terrorists using planes as weapons.
These 19 so-called human beings had no regard for human life and some 3,000
people lost their lives, many just going to work as they normally did. The
only thing different is that they never came home. Then there were the
heroes who died just doing what they do. (taken from Allan Jackson "Where
Were You When the World Stopped Turning?")

You also have those aboard United flight 93 who were determined that their
plane would not destroy another landmark. They were the first soldiers in
the war on terror. Tod Beamer and the rest died like heroes in that
Pennsylvania field. Then there are those who died at the Pentagon.

It's a day I'll never forget and a day we must never forget because if we
forget, then it will happen again. We must do everything we can to defeat
terrorism so that these deaths will not be in vain. We came together as a
country and we must continue to work together as a country.

Have you forgotten? No I haven't and never will. I still remember talking
to my husband that day and then turning on the radio to find that the
station was taking feed fromNYC. I called my husband and told himn to turn
on the radio. He did and thus began a day filled with terror and horror.

My hearts go out to the first responders who did their best to try and save
those trapped at the WTC, many of them dying in the process. It just shows
the sacrifice these people make every day, and especially on 9-11. They
paid a high price as did this country. May we never see another day like it
ever again.