Send the 60 closest to prison nearest biggest Guantanamo cheerleaders

President Obama appears determined to end the stain of America's Gulag At Guantanamo before leaving office next January 20. There's 91 left from a high of over 500. Some died there; most others released as no longer (or maybe never were) a threat. Obama wants to send about 60 to US prisons with the remainder to other countries. Warmonger presidential hopeful Marco Rubio said he'd not only keep them at Gitmo, he'd give a one way ticket there to any suspected bad guys caught on his watch and (hint, hint) "We'd find out all they know." 

Suggestion to Obama: Send all 60 to the closest federal prison to Rubio's home...and the home of any other crazed authoritarian, warmonger and torture lover opposing this long overdue move.

Rep. Ives should withdraw 'disordered' Illinois voter ID bill

Whenever I hear the name of IL Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-42), I conjure up the word 'disordered.' I'm not implying Ives is disordered; I'm referring to her February, 2013, charge that "same sex marriages are completely disordered". Gays, according to Ives are "trying to weasel their way into acceptability so that they can then start to push their agenda down into the schools, because this gives them some sort of legitimacy... And we can't allow that to happen."

Ives backpeddled furiously when those remarks to an anti gay radio audience became public. She issues no more anti gay sentiments now that being homophobic is no longer cool, even amongst conservatives.

But 'disordered' comes to mind again with Ives concerning bill HB5787 she introduced last week in the Illinois Legislature. It amends the IL Election Code to create a pilot program for DuPage County that allows the election authority to obtain drivers license photos to help verify a voter's identity. Sadly, astoundingly, Ives appears to be spearheading efforts to inject the undemocratic concept of voter ID into Illinois elections. The Land of Lincoln is one of just 17 states that have refused to diminish voting prospects of minorities, the poor, the elderly and college students by the frivolous, unnecessary concept of voter ID. The other 33 mostly conservative states are simply trying to elect Republicans, not on the quality of their issues, but by simple vote suppression of likely Democratic voters. Voter ID is a sneaky, 'back door' way of overturning the gains of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Were he trodding his Land today, Honest Abe would be horrified at such an effort to besmirch the legacy of inclusion he gave his life for. If he could have one minute with Rep. Ives, he'd likely implore her to "withdraw your disordered voter ID provision." But since he isn't and can't, we will. Tell Rep. Ives yourself at 630 384 1108.

War criminal fails to save Jeb's presidential bid

There are so many repulsive, disgusting aspects to the GOP presidential nomination campaign, it's hard to pick just one to comment upon. But the appearance of unindicted war criminal George W. Bush to support brother Jeb's now failed run deserves mention. W emerged from self imposed exile in his Dallas mansion to bash frontrunner Donald Trump in South Carolina as being too divisive, too polarizing to lead the Free World in perilous times. Somehow, W's lying and fearmongering which got hundreds of thousands killed and millions fleeing for their safety in an Iraq smashed into a failed state, escaped brother Jeb's consideration in choosing a reasonable campaign surrogate. Jeb's withdrawal speech, called classy by talking cable heads was actually a disgrace. Jeb lamented both the weakening of the gargantuan US military and withdrawal of American military belligerence under Obama. He previously signaled how bellicose a Jeb administration would be by hiring most of George's war crazed advisers to coach him of foreign affairs. Whoever succeeds Mr. Obama will likely follow O's refusal to investigate Bush's Iraq war crimes. The least likely would have been brother Jeb. Good riddance.