The Herald's peculiar fascination with Congressman Roskam

Every two years the Herald dusts of its tepid endorsement of Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-6) and updates it for his latest challenger it can barely mention by name. They always start with the disclaimer he's too far right on social issues, without mentioning he's a climate change denier; without mentioning he throw 20,000,000 off Obamacare if he could; without mentioning he'd withdraw abortion services for all Sixth District women if he could; without mentioning his A rating from the NRA; without mentioning his championing tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and needy.

What does the Herald like about Roskam? They claim he's "ready to work across the aisle, regardless who becomes president" even though he tacitly supported the despicable Republican attempt to delegitimize President Obama for the past eight years, and supported the outrageous 2013 government shutdown that inflicted a political crisis while draining $24 billion from the economy. If that's working across the aisle, I'd like to know real partisanship is like. In ten years all the Herald can point to is his work on Medicare fraud, which for Roskam, is simply part of his meme to stigmatize the government safety net. In sum, the Herald touts that after ten years in the House, they appreciate "his strong knowledge of the issues and his work ethic on Capitol Hill."

The Herald says nothing about foreign policy where Roskam has spent the last decade demonizing Iran, including working to sabotage the Iran Nuclear Agreement which likely averted war with Iran. Roskam is a war party hawk, relentlessly backing our trillion dollar wars in the Middle East and moaning about American weakness over the President's measured pulled back from his predecessor's criminal wars.

Most sadly of all is the Herald's omission of Roskam's support for moral degenerate Donald Trump, calling Trumps racism, sexism, xenophobia, and bullying "slap and dash" and touting he's still going to vote for the 'wild card."

Inexplicitly, the Herald Editorial Board can't differentiate stalwart conservatism from reckless radicalism.

Please don't call it 'medical marijuana'

Time to free the 137,000 Americans (as reported by ACLU and Human Rights Watch) who languish is jail for mere drug possession. All they were doing before the trip to the pokey was self medicating. ACLU and HRW also report that in the last 2 decades arrests for violent crime are down 36% but arrests for drug possession are up 13%. Hey....gotta fill those privatized jails someway.

Time to let all 137,000 out and expunge drug possession from their records so the majority can re-enter society, including the work force.

While at it, let's deep six the name 'marijuana'. Up till American justice went berserk in the 1930's demonizing marijuana in a racist ploy to stigmatize its use by minorities and the poor, it was known as cannabis. First drug Czar Henry J. Anslinger (1882-1975) promoted the name 'marijuana' to give it an exotic, foreign sounding moniker to scare the Bejeezus out of white middle class America. Remember 1937's "Reefer Madness"?

It's cannabis, dammit. Medical marijuana may sound alliterative, but we can easily retain that with 'curative cannabis'. Or just simply CGM (Cheap Good Medicine).

Congressman Roskam's soulless monologue on The Donald

My Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-6) speaks volumes about his political cowardice while commenting on the important moral issue of confronting the racism, xenophobia, sexism, bullying, lying and debasing of the American political process emanating from GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

July 19
"I do think time is Donald Trump's friend. I think people are saying... alright, I'm ready to hear this guy out, see what he has got to say with the flash and dash aside."

October 9
"Trump's comments on women are disgusting and corrosive"....they fly in the face of every lesson wife Elizabeth and I taught our daughters and sons about how men and women interact. However, this election is a binary choice in which I am choosing to vote for a wild card over an unworthy candidate."

October 12
"Hillary Clinton has already disqualified herself by her actions and deeds. Donald Trump has 28 days left to convince me that he's the right person to fix our broken tax code, bring accountability to the federal government, and restore American leadership to the world stage."

October 13
"Donald Trump's a wild card, that's for sure. He's got some work to do, in terms of communicating and so forth. But I think we'd be better off with him than with her."

You know who else has some work to do? Peter J. Roskam.

Rauner's radical departure from Republican moderation in Illinois

Gov. Rauner is eighteen months into an unprecedented assault on the core purposes of state government: providing for the commons, delivering those services as efficiently as possible, and investing in education, infrastructure and tourism to make Illinois a nationwide model of thriving economic growth.

Sadly, state media has ignored that Rauner's vision for Illinois is a radical departure of promoting those core requirements that has never before been abandoned by traditional Republican leaders such as Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar and George Ryan. Rauner treats every investment in the future as something to be cut. He's endangered and worsened the lifestyle of a million Illinoisans dependent on the social safety net that Rauner cuts instead of repairing. He's telling the investment community to dis-invest in Illinois with his refusal to pass a budget, holding it up for his anti union, anti prevailing wage planks that have nothing to do with the budgetary process. He's dis-investing in education, forcing many future leaders and entrepreneurs to educate elsewhere which results in 70% staying in the state that actually values education.

It is imperative we sensible Illinoisans turn Rauner back to the private sector in 2018 so he can resume breaking up companies to increase his obscene wealth. Bruce Rauner must be stopped from completing his breakup of Illinois.

Roskam's Trump support epic moral failing

My congressman Peter Roskam (IL-6) brought his wife, two daughters and two sons into the controversy regarding moral reprobate Donald Trump's presidential bid. He called Trump's bragging about how he loves to sexually grope women, including married ones, "disgusting, corrosive" and that "it flies in the face of every lesson wife Elizabeth and I taught our daughters and sons about how men and women interact."

Those family values aside, Roskam plans to vote for moral reprobate Trump because this election is a "binary choice" in which he is "choosing to vote for a wild card over an unworthy candidate." Roskam's use of 'binary',''unworthy' and 'wild card' are telling. They are meaningless words designed to soften his slinking away from confronting possibly the most important moral issue ever in a presidential campaign. Roskam knows Trump is morally and temperamentally unfit to be president. But he also knows that the majority of his Republican base in the Sixth District still support Trump and may send Roskam into retirement should Roskam disavow Trump over his rape culture character, not to mention his racism, xenophobia, and mocking of the disabled who cause him discomfort.

The lesson for the Sixth District is clear. Roskam will jettison the most basic precepts of decent behavior he's taught his children to stay in office. In addition, if necessary, he'll use his family as a prop to confuse the electorate on his cynical road to a lifetime political career.

The President's worst broken promise

“So today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons… To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same.” 

- President Obama in Prague, April 4, 2009

 

Roskam's 'government overreach' just another 'states rights' dog whistle

My congressman Peter Roskam is campaigning for his fifth re-election on the slogan he's protecting the Sixth District from government overreach. That harmless sounding phrase is actually a 21st century version of protecting citizens 'states rights' used by segregationists and other reactionaries last century to derail civil rights and other federal programs to help the needy, the poor and the marginalized. Roskam has spent the last decade in a failed attempt to prevent expansion of health care to 20,000,000 uninsured, saving 50,000 lives. He's spent the last decade opposing every attempt to make marriage more inclusive. He's spent the last decade opposing every domestic jobs program. He's spent the last decade demonizing the IRS to pander to the 'no taxation to help the less fortunate crowd'. His support to weaken the IRS has allowed his privileged base to game the system, further weakening resources to re-build America. His efforts to stop any progressive legislation aided the 2013 government shutdown, inflicting a $24 billion hit to the economy. Yet, Roskam audaciously touts his bi-partisan bonifides.

One area of true government overreach Roskam supports is prevention of access to reproductive health for the district's 350,000 women. On that issue Roskam's governance cannot reach far enough to inflict needless harm to one of their most cherished rights.

Sixth district residents may reach for a better choice this November. Ten years of regressive dog whistles to oppose progress for the district, the state, the nation are enough.

Trib's Gary Johnson endorsement 'save saving' at its worst

The Trib Editorial Board knows Hillary Clinton will succeed President Obama next January 20. Already on record that Donald Trump is intellectually, temperamentally, and morally unfit to be president, endorsement of Clinton should be even more forthcoming than their endorsement of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

Unfortunately, the Trib has chosen to follow the thoroughly discredited Republican meme that government investment in education, infrastructure, family leave and health care for all is bad governance and must be opposed, even at the sake of jettisoning their editorial integrity. Since the Trib knows opposing Clinton for her belief in the strong, principled government that lifted America out of the Great Recession of 2007, brought over five straight years of private sector job growth, drastic drop in unemployment and debt growth, sustained stock market growth, marriage equality to all, health insurance to 20 million, saving 50,000 lives and many more, would sound ludicrous, the Board simply ignores those accomplishments. Instead they pretend she'll spend America into horrendous debt and kill private sector job growth, which in their twisted vision, can only occur when you strangle government investment in our infrastructure and our people.

The Trib buttresses this fallacious economic and political argument with the vicious Republican campaign to de-legitimize her in the same fashion the GOP de-legitimized President Obama for the past eight years. Calling her untrustworthy and overly ambitious is all the Republican Party has in their hopeless attempt to drag her down to Trump's level. To even suggest Clinton is as unacceptable a choice as Trump is destructive to understanding the horrific political crisis the Trump takeover of the Republican Party provides.

To save face with the Trib's doctrinaire anti government base, the Editorial Board endorses a doctrinaire anti government libertarian who offers little besides more tax relief for the well off by tearing down the social safety net. This may be the Trib's principles, but it's not that of the 50% plus who will propel Hillary Clinton to continue the inexorable march of human progress begun by her Trib backed predecessor.

The Trib Editorial Board disgraced itself in the March Primary by refusing to endorse either of two great progressive Democrats. With its editorial integrity shattered, the Trib is left saving what's left of it's regressive face.