Great time at the Citizen Action Annual Dinner. Probably one of the few events at the Hilton beginning with a brief eulogy for a member of the hotel staff.

WBEZ keeps on talking about Rauner's "Pro business turnaround agenda". Somehow I don't think that quite describes what he's trying to shove down our throats.

For the record, here are the three Illinois State reps who helped tank the override vote of "Right-to-Work" Rauner's veto as listed by the State Journal-Register

"Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood, was the only Democrat to vote against the override. Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, voted "present." Rep. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago, was the only Democrat not to attend Wednesday's session."

Two professors place their bets on the Greek election in today's WaPo:

"Come September, Syriza will perform strongly."

Well, time will tell. In fact, since the election is happening on Sept. 20, time will tell in just a couple of weeks. The professors continue:

"...In fact, Tsipras’s ability to present himself as the defender of Greek dignity and honor and his move toward the center will probably increase Syriza’s share of the vote, even with the new Popular Unity running to its left."

So not only will Syriza maintain its majority but will increase it! That's quite a prediction for a party where "the need to compromise [i.e. signing on to yet more austerity] ultimately trumped the need to remain ideologically pure". All of this, the authors claim, is based on their 'research'.

Of course, there is the example of the embattled democracies of the early 1930s. There the treatment for economic hard times, much like today, was yet more austerity -- a recipe which gradually undermined the legitimacy of democratic regimes, strengthening at the same time extremist groups, particularly on the right.

We know how that ended. Still the professors make their predictions. Again, time will tell if any faces end up with egg.

If you refuse to take water out of Lake Michigan, I guess you could claim we're in a drought. If you refuse to tax the people with money, I guess you could claim we're going broke. Finally if you put a bag over your head, I guess you could claim it is night.

Here's a link to the video of Democratic County Chairmen's brunch, held this year at the Springfield Hilton: http://livestream.com/blueroomstream/events/4221850
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How do they get away with it?

What I find amazing is that they're passing these discriminatory voting laws without being obliged to come up with estimates as to how many people will potentially be affected.

If you were to build a new road or bridge -- or repair an old one -- wouldn't there be some estimate prior to passing the bill as to how many people would be affected?

Instead what they do is come out and say "everyone who wants to vote must now have a state id" -- without being obliged to add, "and oh yeah, we estimate that x-number of thousands of our fellow citizens don't currently meet these requirements". That acknowledgement should be part of the legislation.

I mean they probably have the numbers back at the party office.

"Pension Reform", "Pension Reform" -- that's what they're always saying. We hear it in the media; we hear it from the GOP. Hell, we even hear it from a few centrists Dems. The problem is that "Pension Reform" is nothing but a semantic cover-up. What the people using it really mean, is "Pension Cut", "Pension Cut" -- since that's what they'll really proposing. It's just that none of them are honest enough to admit it.

Three billionaires walk into a bar. The first billionaire throws up his hands. "We're broke," he cries. The second billionaire throws up his hands. "We're broke -- all of us," he sobs. The third billionaire throws up his hands but before he can say anything, the bartender rushes over and shouts out, "you guys don't expect me to foot the bill again, do you?" The third billionaire smiles: "How do you think we became billionaires?"

It's amazing (not to mention disheartening) how much the media is only reflecting the views of the banks and financial institutions.