Bonjour, Paris! Conservatives sommes Merde-flinging surrender monkeys

Ridiculous Right-Wingers all took to their laptops and iPhones to tweet, blog, facebook and post their "embarassment" that President Barack Obama did not attend the Paris World Leaders Rally in face of the Charlie Hebdo/Jewish Deli terrorist attacks. That is from the comfort of their plush, warm living rooms here Stateside.

Thus, continues the never-ending War Conservatives engage upon where they throw shit on everything in the hopes that some of their shit will stick and they can exploit the stink. The Right-Wing Blame Barack Campaign is a well-worn, tried and true method for causing fatigue in the American populace. In the 2014 elections, the ISIS Panic and EBOLA Fear won the Republicans the Senate, so the manufactured freak-outs make sense politically.

Even if they are not internally consistent with other Right-Wing rhetoric. In 2009, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, every conservative blogger and all their right-wing drones derided President Obama for ordering Dijon-Mustard on his Hamburger!

Rawr! Dijon Mustard was renamed by Republicans under the Awesome W Presidency as FREEDOM MUSTARD to go-along with your FREEDOM FRIES! Only God-Reagan approved HFCS Ketchup is allowed on American Burgers! Freedom!

And merely 10 years ago, every single conservative was in lock-step with President Bush and his Faux News enbablers denouncing Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry for being too French-looking and speaking En Francais.

Time and time and time again, conservatives have tried to manufacture controversy surrounding the Obama Presidency, it hasn't worked because besides being as cool as the other side of the pillow President Obama and his cabinet has been moral and just and not beset with the War Crimes and other misdemeanors of the W(orst President in History) and his staff of villains.

Jim Oberweis the next Senator of Illinois... or Flordia!

Republican Jim Oberweis, another Plutocrat who made his fortune off of legerdemain, is running to oppose Dick Durbin for the US Senate. Oberweis will have to win the Primary this March 18th in order to face Senator Durbin in November.

Oberweis is currently an Illinois State Senator having previously run for the US Senate, US House, Illinois Governor and finally winning office in 2012.

Thus far, the only policies State Senator Oberweis has backed is increasing the speed limits on Illinois Highways so his milk and dairy products can reach their destinations faster; accidents, damage to streets and traffic deaths be damned those costs will be borne by society and Illinois Taxpayers, and Pension Theft from Illinois Teachers.

Oberweis voted to steal Teacher Pensions and violate the contracts signed by other Illinois Public employees. Oberweis called the Pension Theft a "step in the right direction" but was worried, "There is no guarantee that the money saved by these reforms will actually be used to pay down debt, instead of being used for new programs." Paying down the debt means transferring taxpayer money to Corporations via pay-to-play tax incentives and special water and power rates for businesses.

Well, now the interesting thing about Oberweis being so worried about Illinois debt is the Oberweis' primary residence is in Bonita Springs, Florida, which coincidentally is where Jim has spent (some? most? all?) the terrible Chicago winter.

This winter in Chicago has been the coldest, when measured by sub-zero degree days, and the second snowiest behind only the infamous blizzard of 1979.

Ah the best of both worlds! Jim's current wife, Julie is a native of Florida and is registered to vote there and she's also registered to vote in Kane County Illinois! In fact in 2010, she voted in both states.

But, it's not Voter Fraud because Julie Oberweis registered to vote in Florida as a precursor to taking a homestead tax exemption for the couple's "primary residence" a $1.3 Million dollar mansion, most likely the one Jim Oberweis spent the better part of this winter relaxing in and soaking up the Florida sun.

Oberweis surfaced in Chicago yesterday (the high was 54 degrees), 4 days before the Republican Primary to give an interview to right-wing toxic talk radio station WLS 890, in which he said, "I never saw the beach, was not there. I did play golf with my wife though."

Awww... Oberweis is going to win the Republican Primary and surely he's just what we need in the US Senate; another Plutocrat Vulture Millionaire who can ensure the poor are punished, the needy are shamed, the hungry are humiliated, and the sick are denied care.

Bruce Rauner like all Plutocrats is a Vandal. Illlinois Public Pension insolvency is his and other Capitalists fault

Bruce Rauner is running for Governor of Illinois. He'll have to win the Republican Primary for a chance to square off against Governor Quinn in the general election. Rauner's sole remaining competition for the Republican Primary is Kirk Dillard after Rauner's Squad eliminated Dan Rutherford's chances with allegations of Sexual Harassment and a homosexual relationship with an intern.

Billionaire Bruce Rauner is an implacable foe of Working people in Illinois. Besides vowing to reduce Illinois' Minimum Wage to make Illinois workers more appealing to Corporate Wage Slavers, once he wins, a Governor Bruce Rauner will do to the State and citizens of Illinois what he and other Capitalists have done to Illinois Public Pensions, they will cart off all the assets in a legislative orgy of Vandalism.

Because that is what Bruce Rauner is; A Vandal, in the most ancient sense of the term. Rauner's entire fortune has been made from identifying previously existing wealth charging in and looting it.

Bruce Rauner worked for 30 years at "Wealth Management" Firm GTCR, the R for Rauner was added during his tenure. Rauner's firm "managed" Public Pensions for nearly two decades. Now, after Rauner and other Vandal Capitalists have had access to Pensions, surprise Illinois is facing a massive Pension Crisis.

By Rauner's own estimate 2/3rds of GTCR funds were supplied by Public Pensions. Here in Illinois

GTCR has "managed" money for the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) and the Illinois State Board of Investment, the state's largest and third-largest, respectively. Additionally, GTCR had access to state and municipal pension plans from the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System to the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board. 

For this "work" GTCR, takes a 20% or more slice plus consultation and management fees. Rauner got paid no matter what the funds he "managed" did.

So, it's not surprising that Illinois and other Public Pensions began to go into insolvency once Vandal Capitalists got their hands on the funds. In fiscal year 2009, TRS lost $4.4 Billion (22% of its' value) in 2008 TRS lost 5% of it's value because of the Management of their Portfolios by Rauner-types.

The Wall Street-Hedge Fund-Wealth Management Implosion of 2007 and on-going Republican Recession was the end result of unchaining Capitalism and opening up the gates to the Vandal Capitalists like Rauner. The Vandals took the secure Public backed funds from dozens of states, hundreds of municipalities and Unions and stole them.

Bruce Rauner's not alone in the Vandal Capitalist method. It's the method de rigueur of the 1%.

"The problem is that the world and this country should not talk about envy of the 1 percent. It should talk about emulating the 1 percent. The 1 percent work harder. The 1 percent are much bigger factors in all forms of our society." Sam Zell, in defense of Tom Perkins who compared the Working Class to Nazis.

The 1% do work hard. It takes a lot of gall for the Vandals to raid, loot and plunder and call themselves Job Creators.

Chris Hayes summed up Zell's "business" model,

Let me tell you something about Sam Zell. He bought The Tribune Company in 2008 for $8.2 billion, an extremely highly leveraged deal. It was widely regarded. I reported on it at the time as an unsustainable debt structure that would implode in on itself.  

Well, guess what? Less than a year, the company went bankrupt, listing $7.6 billion in assets and $13 billion in debt. More than 4,200 people lost their jobs. But despite the company`s troubles, executives received tens of millions of dollars in bonuses. 

Sam Zell is like the action movie hero who throws the lighter behind him not bothering to look back at the explosion. That`s Sam Zell.

Zell bought the Tribune Company and loaded them up with debt ($13 billion) as he drained the companies assets then had them claim bankruptcy and sold off the Chicago Cubs to the semi-odious Billionaire Rickets Family.

Loading debt onto companies in highly leveraged deals is a classic technique Zell and Mitt Romney have profited from immensely. This is the Hard Work that Zell, Rauner, Romney, Steven Cohen, Paul E. Singer, Stephen Schwarzman, Clifford S. Asness, the Koch Brothers, and Tom Perkins demand to be lauded for, deferred to and praised.

The Vandals have already sacked the Public Pensions. With the help of Republican Governors, like Koch Brothers controlled Scott Walker in Wisconsin, several states have fallen to the rapacious hunger of the Vandal Capitalists.

If Bruce Rauner makes his way into Springfield as the Governor of Illinois, another gate will be thrown open to his Looting brethren and Illinois will be Sacked, just as the Vandals have done to other States.

Uh-oh Dan Rutherford just got caught breaking 1 of the 2 Political Sexy Time no-no's

Don't get caught with a dead girl or... a Live Boy.

Politics is a mean, nasty business. Allegations that Illinois State Treasurer and Republican Governor Candidate Dan Rutherford engaged in "official misconduct" have lead to revelations about Rutherford's relationship with a male employee of the Treasury Department.

The Chicago Suntimes is reporting that Dan Rutherford has taken multiple overseas trips with his 28 old year male personal assistant, Josh Lanning. Dan and the young Josh have taken trips to Australia, Israel, China and South Korea.

During each trip, Rutherford received his taxpayer-funded salary, as did his executive assistant, Josh Lanning. The Chinese People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs paid for Rutherford’s trip to China. The Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago paid for the trip to Israel, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, paid for Rutherford’s trip to Korea.

The previous Treasury Secretary Republican Judy Baar Topinka, who served 12 years as claims she never travelled overseas, nor has she as Illinois State Comptroller.

Rutherford denied the trips were vacations saying they served educational purposes.

There are numerous photos of Rutherford and Lanning relaxing and taking interesting day trips and the two repeatedly shared a room on all of these unusual overseas excursions.

Personally, I hate this. Dan Rutherford has always denied being gay. I hate that Dan Rutherford is going to go down because of his personal life choices. If he is or is not gay shouldn't matter. But, being gay is a terrible sin to conservatives. To me the only way that Rutherford's sex life is at all relevant is if he made political decisions against equality or used his political offices to support homophobic positions. 

Rutherford is opposed to gay marriage on religious grounds, although he was the only Illinois Republican to vote for civil unions. So, I could understand people whom Rutherford has harmed by virtue of his office being okay with his outing.

As details have not be released I'm theorizing the case against Rutherford hinges on him sexual harassing members of his errr, staff and/or giving preferential treatment/special favors for his "personal assistant" Josh.

Of importance is what kind of quid pro quo Rutherford promised these foreign governments, who paid for these trips, if he became the next Governor of Illinois? Sweetheart trade deals? Taxpayer assistance and infrastructure to any foreign business which moves an operation here? Passage of Right-to-Work-for-Less Legislation?

Whatever the outcome, Rutherford's gubernatorial aspirations are most likely done.

Bruce Rauner's crimes make him a Quintessential Republican, as the Illinois Governor's Race heats up

Republicans Dan Rutherford and Kirk Dillard have alleged that the latest revelations about GTCR Nursing Home negligence make the Billionaire Bruce Rauner unfit to be the Republican Candidate for Governor in Illinois.

Quite the contrary, Bruce Rauner's willingness to kick old people to the curb and swipe their savings are in direct accordance with established Republican Orthodoxy.

Conservatives and Republicans love criminals; especially as their Governors. Chris Christie, Bob McDonnell are just the latest caught abusing their office for personal gain or vendetta.

Now, Bruce Rauner is a special case. Here in Illinois, the Plutocracy sees a chance to install one of their henchmen in the Governor's Mansion in Springfield.

His career reads much like Mitt Romney's in that he used accounting gimmicks and vulture capitalism to make money. Rauner's firm has been managing the largest Illinois Public Pensions since the 1990's consequently we now have unfunded pension crisis as Rauner has been steadily swindling the Pensions.

When the Nursing Home Industry came within sights of Vulture Capitalists in the late 1990's and early 00's, Bruce Rauner's GTCR firm saw another spigot of taxpayer funds they could pilfer. Which, just like with public pensions, is exactly what Bruce Rauner and his Wealth Management Fund did. They stole millions of Medicaid Dollars marked for Nursing Home Care and provided worse services.

From 1999 to 2003, GTCR and THI began acquiring nursing homes with funding from GECC, Ventas and other lenders. THI became one of the nation’s largest health care operators with more than 220 facilities and more than a billion in revenue at that time. 

When Medicare money for residents’ rent flowed into the THI account, GECC and Ventas took their share before monies were available to cover payroll, supplies, utilities, etc. for the hundreds of nursing homes, according to evidence presented at trial. Insider operators and former employees began suing GTCR/THI over poor management, as did nursing home residents and their families because of what was described as abysmal care.

Rauner's firm then engaged in active negligence, in order to run their 200+ facilities into insolvency because who cares what happens to the senile old people families can't afford to look after because they were working two jobs each to try and stay afloat during the Ultra-Reactionary Piss Down Your Back Reaganomics era?

Republicans are not in Government to help people, unless you mean Romney People (i.e. Corporations) they are in Government to ensure that wealth is transferred upwards and regular Americans are shackled into Corporate Bondage.

There's nothing fresh, innovative or helpful for Illinois residents coming from Republicans. Illinois has seen their Republicans on the federal level defend taxpayer welfare going to Oil Companies while they also vote to eliminate the Clean Air and Water Act, so those self-same Companies can then dump petcoke or other toxic byproducts into Lake Michigan or where ever they please.

Now, after these latest despicable revelations about the thieving Bruce Rauner came back to the forefront of the Illinois Governor's Race, Dan Rutherford has suddenly found himself in trouble from allegations made by a former attorney who worked for Bruce Rauner.

Rutherford announced — during a hastily called news conference — that a treasurer's office employee who has made "allegations of misconduct" against him was being represented by an attorney who had been on Rauner's payroll. Rutherford said the attorney demanded $300,000 on the employee's behalf to "walk away and keep it under wraps."

Dan Rutherford has also said the issue involves "allegations of personal misconduct" which was looked into by an internal Illinois Treasury Department investigation. The general counsel for the treasurer's office Neil Olson, said outside counsel and a consultant firm had been retained for an independent probe because the treasurer is the accused.

I haven't and won't speculate about what the allegations against Dan Rutherford are because going through people's underwear drawers looking for smut and sniffing crotches is a Republican tradition.

As for Kirk Dillard, I've had personal contact with the man during a fundraising dinner for a State Representative Sandy Pihos. I suppose I could set the scene but the gist is when a person with juice,a DuPage County Judge, walked nearby Dillard pivoted his big belly away and turned a cold shoulder towards myself and someone else who had been asking him difficult questions regarding the Pension crisis.

No matter what Republican wins the nomination for Governor in Illinois we are going to be faced with the prospect of a rapacious servant of the Rich who will be an implacable foe to the Working Man and will use the Awesome Power of Government to transfer as much wealth as possible into the coffers of the Vulture Capitalist Class.

Governor Candidate Bruce Rauner has a message for Illinois, I Plan to Crush Workers and give Taxpayer welfare to Corporations

Bruce Rauner has reported incomes of $27 million in 2010, $28 million in 2011 and $53 million in 2012 has concluded that the minimum wage in Illinois is too high.

"Capitalism is the greatest poverty-fighting machine in the history of mankind, and I’m proud of the role I’ve played in it," Bruce Rauner.  

Rauner "worked" for 30 years at GTCR which has "managed money" for decades for the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) and the Illinois State Board of Investment, the largest and third-largest state pension funds, respectively, in Illinois.

Of course, like all modern "wealth managment" millionaires, Rauner made his money by accounting gimmicks and legerdemain. He's charged extorbinant consultation fees and clipped money from Pensioners, while mismanaging public pension funds.

Just like Mitt Romney and other so-called Capitalists, Rauner made his money the old-fashioned way... He Stole It. Now that he's skimmed off millions he's quick to lambast Illinois' underfunded pension liability.

"When those excess benefits are being paid out to government employees, taxpayers lose." Bruce Rauner

Yeah, lazy Teachers! Working for 30 years and then expecting a pension, whereas Rauner's Role as a Rentier, extracting $100 million from the Pensions over the last 3 years alone, is beautiful capitalism at work of which he's "proud".

GTCR has raised the largest percentage portion of its money from public pension funds. Pensions supplied half to two-thirds of the firms funds according to Rauner's own estimate. His former partners decline to comment, citing a state prohibition on asset managers who receive public money from trying to influence elections.

A month ago, Bruce Rauner pledged at a Downstate candidates’ forum that if elected governor he would reduce the state’s minimum wage by $1 to make it equal to the federal rate in an effort to make Illinois more economically competitive.

"I made a mistake. I was flippant and I was quick. I should have said, 'Tie the Illinois minimum wage to the national wage and, in that context, with other changes in being pro-business, I support raising the national minimum wage.' I’m OK with that," said the Republican from Winnetka.

Key words to remember are to make Illinois "Pro-Business", that means crushing labor. Modern day Capitalists view labor as an unnecessary expense. One of the long sought after goals of the 1%, in pursuit of a Wage Slave State, has been the total defeat of Labor. 

Here in Illinois we've seen many times business try and strong-arm the Governor and Legislature (Sears Inc., CME Group and Office Max) in Pay-to-Play and the Race-to-the-Bottom schemes.

In fact, Illinois Residents overwhelmingly want Fair Tax Legislation passed in which Corporations and Millionaires, like Rauner, pay their fair share of taxes instead of receiving Illinois taxpayer welfare so we can be privileged by their scores of minimum wage jobs. A Better Illinois points out that over 75% of Illinois residents want a Fair Progressive Tax.

Billionaires and Corporate Thieves are so opposed to shouldering their burden of the Taxes that spearheaded by the Koch Brothers, conservative think tanks are planning a non stop propaganda blitz to poison this effort.

Bruce Rauner has unequivocally stated he intends to use the Awesome Power of Government to crush labor, reduce wages, impoverish workers, eliminate Unions, and place further unfair burdens on the over-taxed working class and shrinking middle class. Like all Republicans, a Rauner Governorship would be an implacable foe of the Working Class and would he align himself with the Koch Brothers.