Thomas More Society invades the 48th District - Heaven help us!

My Illinois 48th District state representative Sandy Pihos is in for a tough GOP Primary battle for possibly the first time in her 12 year legislative career. Lombard Village Trustee Peter Breen has challenged Pihos who has won enough awards in her first six legislative terms to make a Primary battle preposterous and a general electi...on win a cakewalk. Her problem is that she's too good. She has so many independents and Democrats voting for her that the GOP's extreme right wing has taken notice and decided she is a RINO - Republican in Name Only. And stepping up to the plate to challenge Pihos is Lombard Village Trustee Peter Breen. Peter Who? Turns out Mr. Breen is also Vice President and Senior Counsel of the ultra conservative Thomas More Society, a not-for-profit public interest law firm working to restore respect for life, religious liberty and marriage. Dig a little deeper and you find that it does not respect life, religious liberty or marriage. What it does do, according to the religious gospel of attorney Breen, is demand that our freedom loving, secular nation, follow in lock step, the Society's extreme religious notion of what constitutes respect for marriage even though it treats gay Illinoisans, an unprotected minority, as second class citizens. While much of the civilized world including 15 states and the District of Columbia in America, recognize same sex marriage, the Thomas More Society turns its back on our inexorable march to granting gays full citizenship in the most hallowed of human rights - the right to marry the lover of one's choice. They can't come out and say they are homophobic and hate gays so they say, "it's all about the children", forgetting the fact that a sizable minority, if not a majority of Illinois children are raised with one or no parents due to the extreme disfunctionality of heterosexual relationships, married or not. However, the rights of gays never enter into the perverted worldview of the Thomas More Society. God has simply told them gay marriage is wrong and immoral so they will spend their lives and money working night and day to prevent it in a secular society. We don't need that religious fanaticism corrupting and disgracing our politics in the 48th District or anywhere else in Illinois. Rep. Pihos will never add to her awesome award collection from the gay community or civil rights groups for that matter because she opposes gay marriage in Illinois. Why? Apparently, this is one issue she will not give a clear reason for the homophobes who dominate in the Republican Primary to vote for the religious zealot Breen. But, by already being on record as saying that gay marriage in Illinois is inevitable, she's signalized to GOP homophobes that she won't a lift a finger in their crazed and Quixotic campaign against it. A Breen upset of Pihos in the Primary will make him the clear favorite in the November election to replace her. If that happens, Heaven help us.

Open letter to Congressman Peter Roskam on the shutdown

Dear Congressman Roskam, Your October 9th constituent video email entitled "Let's solve this" was deeply offensive. Understand this, Congressman: we folks suffering under a radical Tea Party controlled Republican House leadership did not shut down the government. You, as one of those leaders did. You and your cohorts in this despicable ex...ercise in destructive governance need to end this shutdown forthwith. You need to stop for the 44th or 444th time to roll back the benefits of the Affortable Care Act to the 40 million Americans finally getting help with health insurance, no thanks to anyone in your party. You need to pull back from taking the American and possibly the world economy to a new recession with constant threats to default by not increasing the debt ceiling. You've lost three straight Senate elections and two straight presidential elections because you're offering bad policy the electorate isn't buying. You lost the vote in both Houses on the Affordable Care Act and you lost the vote in the Supreme Court declaring it constitutional. Most importantly, you've lost the vote in the court of public opinion. Get over it. Get the government running again and conduct yourself like a patriotic loyal opposition instead of infantile babies who cannot control their bodily functions. You can pretend the shutdown occurred as naturally as the sun coming up till, like an infant, you're blue in the face. We who are horrified by your reckless radicalism will continue to hold up a mirror to your antics till you grow up and respect the hallowed institutions of government you desecrate with every vote in Congress...and with every constituent video email. We might negotiate with terrorists...but we don't negotiate with babies. Respectfully, Walt Zlotow IL 6th District resident