But despite this decrease, most people think gun crimes are increasing, largely because of what they hear from main stream media and anti-gun politicians. According to a Rasmussen poll released on Friday, May 10, while gun killings have plunged 39 percent since 1993, and non-fatal gun crimes have dropped 69 percent in the same period, those who want gun control think that gun crime is up. Rasmussen reports that only 7 percent of adults believe there are fewer gun owners in the country than there were 20 years ago — and more importantly, 64 percent of those who want more gun control think that gun crime has escalated.

How can this be?

Ever since the Justice Department released its study on Tuesday, May 7th showing that firearms-related homicides in the U.S. annually declined 19 percent from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011, anti-gun proponents have been silent. There has not been a peep out of New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg since the report was issued. The President has ignored it.

Continue reading at Illinois Review…

[FILE] Zach Fardon, left, outside the Federal Courthouse in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Russell)

He was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the U.S. Attorney of Northern District of Illinois on Thursday.

“Zachary Fardon will be an exceptional U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois,” Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said in a statement. “His range of experience will serve him well in a city and region as diverse and challenging as the Northern District. I spoke to him today and advised him that he’ll have to hit the ground running and immediately focus on daily gang and gun violence plaguing the streets of Chicago. I know he can do it and will lead the U.S. Attorney’s office with independence, integrity and distinction.”

“Fardon is an outstanding pick to continue Patrick Fitzgerald’s tradition of aggressively prosecuting criminal activity that threatens northern Illinois and lead our state in the fight against dangerous drug gangs and gun violence,” Illinois Senator Mark Kirk said through a statement.

Durbin and Kirk created a bipartisan screening panel to fill the vacancy.

Continue reading at ABC7…

I started a non-partisan group in March of 2012, For Our Children’s Future. It’s mission is as follows:

1. Recruit, train and help candidates who will bring fiscal sustainability and integrity to their elected office while maintaining a social safety net for those truly in need
2. Empower parents to ensure their children are not trapped in failing schools
3. Fight the efforts that limit taxpayer rights by forcing property owners to do their own tax appeals or hire a lawyer

In February 2013, I started a Political Action Committee to help fulfill our mission and opened a bank account. Our bank account was closed without notification at the end of April. I only found out it had been closed when a check I had donated to a candidate could not be cashed. You can view the timeline below for more detailed information on the closing.

Some of the additional information that was requested by my bank was the following:

• List our top 4 donors
• List the top 4 candidates/organization we donated to
• What was the purpose of our bank account
• What was our groups mission
• What is our mission/purpose
• What is our funding profile

At the time, I thought this was strange for a bank to be asking me for this information. Especially since I had provided them my D-1 Statement of Organization at account opening. Neither I, nor anyone else I have told about this has ever heard of a bank requesting this type of information. Specifically the Fed already has access to all checks in/out of a bank account. Also, the donations/expenditures are always on the State Board of Elections for all to see.

When the IRS targeting conservative scandals broke, I started questioning more about whether the government is using banks to now target conservatives as well. It appears they very well may be.

What a chilling thought for every citizen to know that the IRS is targeting individuals who utiliize the first amendment to disagree with the President or big government. Now the possibility is the government is also using banks as well to stifle our first amendment rights. This should send every American citizen and politicians who believe in freedom scrambling to put on end to these intimidation tactics. If these can be used against conservatives, it will eventually be used against anyone whose political views differ from those in power.

Timeline:

• February – Opened bank account
• End of March – Received notice from bank asking for information
• April 12th – Returned documentation requested to National and local offices
• April 30th – Account closed without notification
• May 3rd – Notified by a candidate the account was closed and his checked was not cashed
• May 3rd – Contacted local bank. Account was closed with note that I did not send back information
• May 4th – Contacted National Bank Offices.
  • Account was being researched, again stated I did not return document
  • Local branch manager called and the national office would not talk to him. He told me to call every hour until I got it resolved
  • Called national office again, account still being researched, but they received my documents on April 17.
  • National office called me back a few hours later, they claimed I had left a couple fields blank.
  • Refiled the paperwork by fax
  • Account reinstated 24 hours later
  • Was told this was due to the Patriot Act banking provisions although they could not or would not give me more specific details on the rule used to close my account without notification.

In case of divorce settlement, the ex-spouse may have fortified his/her equity in a home that has been jointly owned with his former spouse. In this situation, the ex-spouse may receive a mail every month to give his half of the minimum payment to the former spouse. If the former spouse defaults on payment, then the credit score may drop significantly of the separated couple. In this situation, you only have two options either you pay off the debt or request the lender to remove your name from the loan.

In this situation, the ex-spouse may request his former wife to refinance. The former wife may not be interested if she finds that the bank may let him off the hook. She may ask for reassurance and her ex spouse to pay off his half in this stressful financial condition. Both the ex spouses may negotiate terms that protects her from nonpayment on his part. Once they negotiate on the term, the former spouse may agree to refinance.

As the credit score of the former ex was extremely low due to frequent defaults on payment, so the bank declined the refinance on favorable terms. Therefore, the ex spouse had to pay more than that he usually paid every month.

Remember, your 35% of a credit score is based on the payment history. Therefore, making timely payments as well as reminding his former spouse to pay off the loan on time may help to increase his credit score.

Along with refinance loan, if the ex-spouse reached almost at the end of his credit limits, it may lead to other complications. In this situation, he thought that making reasonable payments on time may improve his credit score. This is because he tried to show that he is able to manage debt responsibly. If he employs this trick to increase his credit score, he may need to be cautious as getting closer to credit card spending limits may blemish his credit report.
Well, merging the unsecured liabilities into a single monthly payment and bringing down the balance to zero can be beneficial. It may help to raise the credit score significantly.

Once the credit card debt has been paid off, the ex spouse need to notify the credit reporting agencies and explain that his former wife’s delinquent accounts has been reported to the credit bureaus. These efforts can prove to be positive for the ex spouse as his credit score may increase with time.

But his former wife’s credit score dropped significantly, so the refinance failed to completed on favorable terms. This is because she defaulted on her credit card bills and it further complicated the matter. In this situation, her ex-spouse decided to pay off the bills. Once he paid his former spouse’s bills, the credit score started improving. She needs to notify the credit reporting agencies immediately and explain the reason behind the late payments.

Paying off the debts solved most of their financial problems and helped them to end the relation on a good note. After the ex spouse paid off the debts of his former wife, their credit score increased, got approved for refinancing from the bank, the ex-spouse got off the hook and managed to raise his credit score.

Therefore, after separation if you still owe joint liabilities like mortgage or credit card debt, you need to fulfill the financial responsibilities by paying off the debt jointly. When you incurred debt after marriage then both the partners need to pay off the debt even after separation. If you fail to do so, then you may be intertwined in a financial relation even after separation. When both the partners jointly put an effort to pay off the debt, they may end the relation on a happy note.

The NLRB was trying to get employers to post the following, that workers can:

• organize a union to negotiate with their employer about wages, hours and working conditions;
• form, join or assist a union;
• bargain collectively with their employer;
• discuss wages and benefits and other terms or conditions of employment or union organizing with co-workers or a union;
• strike and picket, depending on the purpose or means of the strike or the picketing; and
• choose not to do any of these activities, including joining or remaining a member of a union.

Agree with the need for the posting or not, the issue really is, “Why is the NLRB not impartial, when it is supposed to be?”

According to Smith Amundsen, a national the labor law firm, ”In short, this is indeed a psychological blow to BIG Labor. Most importantly perhaps, this may take some of the proverbial wind out of the NLRB’s sails and its decidedly pro-labor agenda. For now, employers can ignore, remove or cover up this posting. The longer term effects remain to be seen.”

Learn more about Commercial Corp Finance or read past reports.

Mr. Morrison and his friends at SEIU make sport out of pushing around disabled children. A few short years ago, it was Mr. Morrison who attempted to intervene between the parents of disabled children and their children by forcing public sector unionization on private home health care workers (thankfully he failed).

——————————————————–

Such a moment occurred last week when Mr. Morrison chose to opine in response to a post I made on my Facebook page with his customary bellowing that everyone from me to Bob Woodward are “crackpots,” “whackos,” “nutjobs,” and the like. This is what Mr. Morrison calls “discussing an issue.”

As more people jumped in on the thread to taunt Mr. Morrison with facts and logic, an excited utterance of truth came from the most unlikely of sources. Mr. Morrison, responding to a comment about being brainwashed by Obama administration propaganda, wrote, “I don’t get brainwashed. I do the brainwashing.”

Not relying solely on Mr. Morrison’s rhetorical gifts of persuasion, however, SEIU doles out campaign cash to Republican and Democrat state legislators—more than $1.4 million in the 2012 election cycle alone—to “brainwash” Springfield and whitewash the conspiracy to defraud taxpayers that is Illinois state government in its current form.

Continue reading at IllinoisOpportunity.org…

HB 2675 — the “comprehensive” sex education bill now moves to Governor Patrick Quinn’s desk.

This afternoon, the Illinois Senate voted 37 to 21 to pass HB 2675 after a one-hour heated debate.  See the official voting record of how your state senator voted by clicking HERE to download it or look at the chart below.

IFI is grateful to the lawmakers who spoke out against this terrible legislation, including State Senators Dale Righter (R-Mattoon), David Luechtefeld (R-Okawville), Kyle McCarter (R-Vandalia), Jim Oberweis (R-North Aurora), Sue Rezin (R-Morris), Mike Connelly (R-Wheaton), Chapin Rose (R-Champaign), and Republican Minority Leader Christine Radongno (R-Lemont).  We appreciate that Democratic Senators Gary Forby (Benton) and Bill Haine (Alton) joined all 19 Senate Republicans who voted against this proposal.

HB 2675 is completely unnecessary and an intrusion into local control. Public schools in Illinois already have the ability to teach “comprehensive” sex education if they wish. Local public school administrators do not need a mandate from Springfield telling them they must teach comprehensive sex education when the preponderance of evidence suggests that authentic abstinence education is successful.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email or a fax to Gov. Quinn today to ask him to VETO HB 2675.  You can also call the governor’s office at (800) 642-3112.

We need a flood of calls, emails and faxes to the Governor’s office if we hope to stop this bill from being signed into law.

Chicago Tribune

After hearing from aldermen, angry parents and community members in a meeting interrupted several times by protesters, the Chicago Board of Education today approved a plan to close 49 elementary schools and one high school program.

The board voted 4-2 to close Von Humboldt Elementary, then unanimously approved the rest of the closings in a single vote. (Read a recap of the meeting on our blog HERE.)

Before that, the board voted 6-0 to approve a last-minute recommendation by the district to spare four elementary schools: Manierre Elementary on the Near North Side, Mahalia Jackson and Garvey on the South Side and Ericson on the West Side.

After more than two hours of public comments, Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and board members defended the plan to close the highest number of schools the city has ever shut down in a single year.

“We can no longer embrace the status quo because the status quo is not working for all Chicago school children,” Byrd-Bennett said before the vote was taken. “It is imperative that you take the difficult decision but essential steps.”

The district says it needs to close schools to address a looming $1 billion deficit and declining enrollment.

Continue reading at the Chicago Tribune…

Donations to benefit Lamb’s Fold Center for Women and Children

PLAINFIELD – State Representatives Tom Cross (R-Plainfield), Darlene Senger (R-Naperville), and Larry Walsh Jr. (D-Elwood) are asking residents to donate home supplies and gently used clothing to benefit Lamb’s Fold Center for Women and Children in Joliet. The donation drive will begin on May 28, 2013.

Specifically, Lamb’s Fold is most in need of summer clothing, shoes, kitchen supplies (laundry soap, dish soap, etc. zip lock bags, foil, garbage bags, coffee filters, and paper products), beauty supplies, non-perishable food, hygiene products, school supplies, and more.

Designated donation boxes will be located at the following drop-off collection sites throughout the duration of the clothing drive:

97th District Office 
Tom Cross
24047 W. Lockport St., Suite 213
Plainfield, IL  60544
Monday-Friday, 8:30am – 5:00 pm
www.tomcross.org

41st District Office
Darlene Senger
125 Water St
Naperville, IL 60540
Monday-Friday, 8:30am – 4:00pm
www.darlenesenger.org

86th District Office
Lawrence M. “Larry” Walsh, Jr.
121 Springfield Ave.
Joliet, IL 60543
Monday-Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm

“Lamb’s Fold offers a critical lifeline to many families in our communities,” said Cross. “Contributions from this clothing and supplies’ drive will help provide the tools needed to change the lives of women and children who are faced with desperate situations.”

“Through physical, financial, and emotional recovery, Lamb’s Fold strives to empower women and children from our communities to build a better tomorrow. I am grateful to be part of these efforts and I encourage you to make a donation to this good cause,” said Senger.

“The toll that domestic violence takes on families and the community is devastating,” Walsh said. “I hope everyone can find it in their heart to help these families by taking a moment to donate one of the requested items.  Together, we can help these strong women who are struggling to make a better life for themselves and their children.”

Lamb’s Fold Center for Women and Children serves homeless and abused women and children by providing them with community-based supportive housing, personalized recovery services, and assisting them to achieve self-sufficiency.

For more information on the clothing and supplies drive, please call the office of State Rep. Tom Cross at (815) 254-0000, State Rep. Darlene Senger at (630) 420-3008, or Rep. Larry Walsh Jr. at(815) 730-8600.

Anyone who wishes to donate large items or would like to contribute a monetary donation are encouraged to contact Jeanne Terdic at (815) 545-4365 or email her at jterdic@lambsfold.org.