From the Sun Times it's not like we didn't see this coming

TORONTO -- Canada's health minister threatened on Wednesday to overhaul the country's regulations on exporting prescription drugs, saying Canada would no longer be a cheap "drug store for the United States

--snip--

Canada's decision would have no immediate impact on Illinois residents enrolled in I-SaveRx, a multistate program launched last October to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

About 10,000 people in five states including Illinois have signed up for I-SaveRx, said Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for Gov. Blagojevich. The program links consumers to a network of about 40 foreign pharmacies, where they can buy drugs at a savings of up to 50 percent.

Orders from the site are shipped to customers individually, not in bulk, which is what Canada may curtail.

"We are concerned about what Canada discussed," Rausch said. "But it doesn't mean anything to I-SaveRx."

The CBC story also had this little fact which I think should make Rausch take notice since I suspect some smart reporter who starts looking into this is going to ask about it.

He (the Health Minister) also said he would strengthen existing rules to ensure that American patients getting prescriptions from Canada have some kind of relationship with a Canadian doctor.(emph mine)

Seems to me that strikes at the heart of I-SaveRx.

I guess you should be thankful only 10,000 people are in the program instead of 100,000. My guess is about 10~20 of the pharmacies out of the 40 or so pharmacies in the program are Canadian. So it will not be too hard for the Canadian government to figure out what pharmacies are involved and make them stop.

Like it or not I-SaveRx is a bulk program. But regardless it will have gotten it's job done. Scoring health care points for Governor Blagojevich for when he runs for president.

I would love to know how much we have spent to set up and run I-SaveRx to serve 10,000 people, not all of whom even live in the state.

OneMan

Looks like Bill Wyatt will be able to stay on the county board after all. Cool, not only is Bill a good guy but we can avoid the whole having to pick one person to replace him and pissing off others in the process.

OneMan

Heard from the Oberweis campaign via e-mail. So thanks to whomever forwarded that information along. I still think building early buzz via blogs is going to an inexpensive way to score some points in this cycle.

More to come.

The Leader is Reporting that Family Taxpayer Network is going to endorse Oberweis? That's a bit of a surprise, I kind of figured they would go with Steve.

The story had this little tidbit.

The Oberweis campaign's kickoff will be held at Walter Payton's Roundhouse in Aurora Tuesday night from 5 to 8 o'clock.

Now, here is a question. I think it is safe to say I am one of the leading Republican Bloggers in at least the northern half of the state and I am a minor parofficialcal of the Republican party in the same township that he is having the campaign kickoff in.

So where is my invitation?

No I haven't been a big Oberweis supporter, but still at this point shouldn't all of the folks who are thinking about running for governor at least be sending me e-mail?
No e-mail saying 'Hey Henry why not stop on by, I know Jim would like to talk to some bloggers'.
So far the only blog specific stuff has been from the Birkett folks.

I may be really delusional about my influence and that's fine. But at this point it would be low cost to do so even to 50 hit a day guys like me.

Come on I should have gotten one in the mail at least as a local party official who lives in the city he is going to announce in.

OneMan

Ausin Mayor taged me with the book thing....

Total number of books I'’ve owned:
Including manuals and the like, 500 is a good estimate. My signed book collection is at least 75 now. Authors ranging from Baroness Thatcher to Hugh Heffner.

The last book I bought:
The last new book I bought, Professional Dotnetnuke Asp. Net Portals (by a host of authors). The last used book 'The Voulme Library' a general knowledge reference book from 1934. ( I have a collection of reference books on technical subjects from the first half of the 20th century).

The last book I read
The Informant: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald (about the ADM anti-trust case) and before that it was Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald (about Enron)

Five books that mean a lot to me:

The Relational Model for Database Management: Version 2 by E. F. Codd.
Kind of representivie of the work done by E. F. Codd and Chris Date on the Reatlional Model. This is the basic principals of what I do for a living.

Faith Of My Fathers, by John McCain, Mark Salter
The first book I read after I had children that I realized I wanted them to read some day. It covers the story of a great man and an interesting family, warts an all. It made me want to campaign for McCain that much harder. An excellent example of true courage and character

The Bible
It still teaches me something every time I read it. The basis of my faith.

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The first book that got me thinking about what being a Christan means, not just the basic requirements. It made me also start to think critically about my faith and begin to look at my theology. Something I still do today.

A Passion for Excellence : The Leadership Difference by Nancy Austin, Thomas J Peters.
When I was in High School I attended Illinois Business Week and one of the speakers was Don Vleck of Domino's Pizza he gave a list of recomended books I still remeber writing down. One of these books was Passion for Excellence in part because he was quoted in it. I read it and learned one lesson (perhaps not the one he wanted a room full of High School kids to pick up) it never hurts to ask.


That's it. I am passing this one on to the same folks

Five people I'am passing the musical baton to.

Beth over at Finding my Voice
Kerry over at Illini or Huskie
Whomever over at Openline
Hiram over at WurfWhile
Alison over at Philosophe Forum

Visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum over the weekend. Highly recomended by the OneMan. A bit too much for my 4 year old, but my 2nd grader seemed to enjoy it.

FYI, lots of reading in the exhibits (keep that in mind for the kids) also try to go early on a Saturday if you go on a Saturday. When we left at 12:00 they were lined up outside to get in.

OneMan

The Auditor General has a new report out about the 'efficiency programs'.

Some highlights

Public Act 93-0025 (Act) granted CMS the responsibility for recommending to the Governor efficiency initiatives to reorganize, restructure, and reengineer the business processes of the State. Additionally, the Act created the Efficiency Initiatives Revolving Fund (EIRF) to receive amounts designated by CMS and approved by the Governor as savings resulting from the efficiency initiatives implemented by CMS. State agencies were to pay these savings into the EIRF “from the line item appropriations where the cost savings are anticipated to occur.”

Some of the funds the moneactuallyly came out of include

$1.2 million from an appropriation to the Department of Human Services (DHS) from the Early Intervention Services Revolving Fund. The specific appropriation within the Community Youth Services Division was “For Grants Associated with the Early Intervention Services Program, including operating and administrative costs.” The payment was applied to the Procurement Efficiency Initiative billing (report released April 13, 2005).

$50,000 from an appropriation to DCEO “For Expenses Relating to Compliance with the Belgium Social Security System” to make payments for the Procurement Efficiency
Initiative (report released April 6, 2005).

From the IDPR
$25,000 from a Lump Sum appropriation to make payment for part of the Information Technology Initiative. The specific appropriation was “for the purchase of evidence and equipment to conduct covert activities.”

One of my favorites

$433,448 from an appropriation to the Department of VeteransÂ’ Affairs for the Illinois VeteransÂ’ Home at Manteno that was appropriated by the General Assembly to the Department for an addition of 38 beds. The payment was applied to the Procurement Efficiency Initiative billing (report released April 13, 2005).

-- That's right kids, to heck with adding the beds we were given the money for, there is CMS payment we need to make.

Read the entire thing, I think the using the 38 bed money for CMS payments is going to make a great TV ad.

There was also a Department of Professional Regulation audit with this little snipit

Department officials concurred with our recommendation and stated the agency was notified only six days in advance of the out-of-country travel requests for the fact finding trip to Canada and only 11 days prior to the out-of-country trip to Europe for the GovernorÂ’s Task force on Importation of Canadian and European Drugs. It was mandated by the task force for the I Save Rx plan that the travel be implemented as quickly as possible. The Department also noted they will exercise increased awareness in the future to ensure Travel Control Board requirements are met.

If they were working on this for over a year why did they IDPR only have 11 days notice before sending people to Europe, not the way to get the best airfare by any stretch. I think this might be worth someone looking into.


OneMan,
Reading auditor reports so you don't have to

Remember Imported Drugs, it's safe nothing to worry about. No counterfeit risk at all. Remember kids, if a Canadian or European pharmacy had something like this happen with Illinois consumers, the worst the state could do is toss them from the program.

Remember G-Nad knows what's best.

OneMan

Was at an Oberweis Ice Cream Shop last night and ended up talking politics with the one of the other guys in line. Suffice to say he was a bigger fan of Oberweis' ice cream than Oberwies' the candidate.

His quote. "We need to find a young guy with some charisma who is conservative but not too conservative"

Any suggestions?

OneMan

Sneed has some follow-up on her Vallas item yesterday.

Quoth Dean Vallas: "He was hired as a field director, not a pollster. He approached the campaign manager towards the end of the campaign and said, 'I can do a poll,' and said it would cost between $10,000 and $15,000. At the end of the campaign, he hands me a bill for $31,000."

Ummm Sneed don't reporters and columnists usually ask for a response before they run an item?

The Backshot: Talking to both sides is not a bad idea
The Buckshot: Sneeds mad journalistic skills shine again.

OneMan

The TTrib has some of Obama's Fathers' Day Sermon. Follow the link, read the whole thing. It is beyond excellent, the level of intelegence of his oratory is at a different level than most others in the public realm today.

The Trib also has an editorial on the issues he brings up as well.

Sometimes I go to an 8th-grade graduation and there's all that pomp and circumstance and gowns and flowers. It's just 8th grade, people. They've got to get out of high school, then they've got to go to college, then they've got to get a graduate degree if they want to compete. ... An 8th-grade education is not going to cut it! Just give them a handshake. Congratulations, now get your butt in the library.

-- Snip--

"One of the values that I think men in particular have to pass on is the value of empathy. Not sympathy, empathy. And what that means is standing in somebody else's shoes, being able to look through their eyes. You know, sometimes we get so caught up in 'us' that it's hard to see that there are other people and that your behavior has an impact on them. And sometimes brothers in particular don't like to feel empathy, don't like to think in terms of 'How does this affect other people?' because we think that's being soft. There's a culture in our society that says we can't show weakness and we can't, therefore, show kindness. That we can't be considerate because sometimes that makes us look weak. That sometimes we can't listen to what our women say because we don't want to act like they're in charge.

And our young boys see that. They see when you are ignoring your wife. They see when you are inconsiderate at home. They see when you are thinking only about yourself. And so we've got to learn to pass on the value of kindness."

A couple more thoughts. At both my 8th grade and High School graduations my dad basically said 'This is nice, I did this, I expect more from you'.

Also remember both sons and daughters learn lessons from how you treat the significnat other in your life.

OneMan

Perhaps the Sneedster should read The Capitol Fax Blog where Rich actually talked to Vallas and Vallas
A) Says he is not running
B) Also points out he has campaign debt

Then again doing some shilling for a pollster could come in handy when you want to see some numbers so I guess from a usefull to you point of view it isn't a bad idea Mike.

OneMan

I have been meaning to do a post asking why someone who has been in the US Senate for 6 months deserves a honorary doctorate but haven't figured out yet how to do it without sounding bitter. Actually my issue with the speech has more to do with his dismissal of the Ownership Society and I wanted to point out we have a system of 'portable pensions' it's called a 401K. But again I still can't figure out how do to it without sounding bitter.

Then I read about his comments in a sermon on Fathers Day and hope the rest of Democratic party doesn't start picking up on his themes. Instead I hope they keep referencing Hitler and calling Republicans lazy white male Christians.

Everyone trying to shape the public debate in this country can learn from what Sen. Obama says and how he says it.

OneMan

There is a petition over here asking Durbin to resign. They asked if I would put the link up and I will, he has the right to say what he said and people have the right to ask him to step down because of it.

Zorn has a fairly good take on it in the Notebook in two places.

If Sen. Durbin wants to know what real mistreatment by real despots without respect for human life is I suggest he walk accross the senate floor and speek with Senator McCain.

OneMan

Been Busy, I'll get to why...

First Jake over at Rhodes School asks some Music Questions

what is my total volume of music
About 200~300 CDs, that's a guess.

What is the last CD I bought.
Interesting question. If you count a 'CD' on itunes it would be Flow by Terence Blanchard (Jazz), if you require a physical CD then it would have been the CD that came with the Jazzis Magazine Guitar Jazz issue. If you mean a CD the real old fashioned way it would be "The Way Up" by the Pat Metheny group.

What song is playing right now.
"Falling Grace" by Lyle Mays off of Fictionary

What five songs do I listen to a lot because they are special to me
Almost any track off of the "Falcon and The Snowman Soundtrack" The Path Metheny Group. I got this CD in college and when I was really stuck on a technical issue when writing a program or something I would pop this in my CD player, put on some headphones and by the third track "Chris" I would have a solution. I would only play it rarely it order for it to work for me the way it did. It still comes in handy for the same purpose now, but I play it more.

"Don't give up" Peter Gabriel So. It always reminds me that even when things are not going well I am truly blessed.

"Make Tomorrow" off the Ovo soundtrack. Written by Peter Gabriel, not really sure who sings it. It makes me think about the legacy I am leaving my children and what my children will leave as their legacy.

"Children's Crusade" Sting, Dream of the Blue Turtles. Just a great melody.

And Finally a tie between two that bring back memories of high school
"The Show" Doug E Fresh, Slick Rick. Brings back memories of parties after football games in my jr. year in high school. Just about the whole football team would be at one house after the game and this would come on the stereo and we would all sing along.
"The Roof is On Fire" We would sing at the top of our lungs this one after a home win in our locker room as we pounded on the lockers and each other. Ever time I hear this one I am 16 again and in the locker room at Thornridge with the powder blue lockers in a sea of testosteron and adrenaline.


Five people I'am passing the musical baton to.

Beth over at Finding my Voice
Kerry over at Illini or Huskie
Whomever over at Openline
Hiram over at WurfWhile
Alison over at Philosophe Forum

Rich has some poll numbers, I think it is interesting that G-Nad is statistically tied with Lisa right now.

I think the GOP primary numbers at this point are pure name reconition so I would take them with a huge grain of salt.

OneMan

From the IGNN (Illinois Government News Network)

“This money will go a long way in keeping Illinoisans, especially the elderly, protected from the West Nile virus,” Gov. Blagojevich said. “It’s important that we remain vigilant in our surveillance and prevention methods so that we never again experience the toll West Nile disease took on the state in 2002.”

The money comes from a special 50-cent fee on the purchase of new tires that was imposed in 2003 to create a public health emergency fund to finance human, mosquito, bird and horse surveillance for mosquito-borne diseases. Local health departments that had positive West Nile virus activity in their area last year received funding. The Cook County Department of Public Health is one of more than 60 grant recipients statewide.

-- Good thing this wasn't one of these funds that G-Nad felt the need to sweep clean to become GR funds. Then again it harder to work in G-Nad codewords like Senior Citizens and Children when you are using funds from the
Public Transportation Fund...........................$701,837
Downstate Public Transportation Fund.................$112,085
Motor Carrier Safety Inspection Fund...................$6,543
Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund...............$118,222

But Hey the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust fund and the downstate Public Transportation fund had 30K enough in them in total to cover the state's portion of the costs for The Chicago International House Music Festival.

OneMan

Over at Philosophie Forum he references a DCC report on the congressional races in Illinois in 2004. Read it, it is an interesting perspective. Wrong in a large way if you ask me, but still interesting.

My issues with it....

To much focus on how Danny! was supposed to be the combine guy and less of a focus on the Hull implosion. If Hull knows how to treat women or if how he treated women didn't come out until after the primary it is quite possible that Hull wins the primary or Hull and Obama split the progressive vote. With enough money tossed around near the end of the primary season Hull would have even drawn off some African-American results.

Bean was helped by Crain's detachment more than anything else. If he either had the sense to realize his day had passed or to really put his heart into running for another term we might (and likely would have) seen a different result. The fact that 2002 didn't wake him up shows more than anything else that he was toast.

that's about it.

OneMan

No G-Nad isn't being hypocritical at all when he continues to raise huge bucks while talking about reform, it's not like he is walking his dog and lets his dog do 'his business' on your front lawn while saying 'This should be illegal but since other dog walkers got do it, I might as well do it until it is actually illegal' now is it?

Also does Rich's item on Pay Day Lenders really surprise anyone?

OneMan

Via the Sneedster

Announce 'em . . .

Batter up: Watch for our baseball obsessed gov to call the top of the third inning of the Cubs-Red Sox game Saturday night on WGN Radio with broadcasters Ron Santo and Pat Hughes

I bet he shows up for this on time, also I thought he was a Cardinals fan. I really hope the White Sox make it to the world series for a host of reasons, including watching G-Nad squirm.

She also talks about how he is running the Steamboat Classic on Saturday in Peroia (15K) with a start of 7:45 AM.

Contrary to what the Sneedster says, the schedule on the Cubs web site says the game starts at 2:15 PM, tonight's game (Friday) is a night game.

So I guess the state plane might be getting some use on Saturday.

OneMan

What I am reading...

Since the session is over and the political stuff might start slowing down a bit I figured I might as well do some normal blog stuff. Like Blog about what I have been reading lately.

I will however for the sake of the rest of you spare you the technical stuff I read (about 50% of the overall list) since I suspect Professional SQL Server Reporting Services while interesting to me would bore you to no end.


So first on the list 'All Marketers are Liars' by Seth Godin.

First a bit of disclosure, I got a free copy of this book via BuzzAgent, so I didn't pay for it.

I am about a 1/3rd of the way into it so far and it's an interesting approach to the subject and if I paid for the book I would have felt I had gotten my money's worth.

The basic idea of the book that I am walking away with so far is that people buy into brands based off of 'story' the brand tells. Once I finish reading it completely and then re-reading it ( I tend to do that will business books) I will provide a full book report, however until then I do have some thoughts about the story that Republicans need to tell in 2006.

So what is the story that the Illinois Republican party (and our next gubernatorial candidate) need to tell in 2006.

If you ask me we need to talk about the idea of letting business grow in Illinois to provide jobs at all levels in Illinois and in all locations. Providing a safety net for folks but make being productive the goal for every citizen in Illinois.

We need to make our story the story of how when business grows, everything is better and how the best way to let business grow is to get out of it's way.

The author has an interesting example from a radio debate on the filibuster thing.

Lesson from this example. Use a simple story and stick with it.

More to come on this subject.

OneMan

Some more on adventures in Tax Land, the latest updates were in the Beacon today..

Frances said the district has also had a meeting with Kendall County officials to try to speed up the tax assessment process and avoid the use of estimated tax rates in the future. School officials have "not had much discussion" with Kane County, where few of the district's residents live, he said

It's where I live and the fact that nothing happened to try and deal with this same basic issue that I have faced for the last three years but apparantly since we are a small part of the district we are not really worth the effort.

Do I expect a refund check from the school district, no. I am expecting someone to actually address the overpayments of the last three years with a correct and logical adjustment for either the second payment this year or on next years bill. Yes.

Then again the he-said, she-said between 308 and Will County is histerical. Also why isn't some more fire being held to the feet of the Kendall county folks.

OneMan

From the State of Illinois Web Site from a press release issued May 29th...

Gov. Blagojevich announces dozens of families helped by increased benefits for fallen soldiers
SPRINGFIELD – As people across Illinois and the United States prepare for Memorial Day and honor the men and women who have given their lives defending freedom, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich announced today that more than fifty families of Illinois soldiers killed in the line of duty fighting the Global War on Terror have received benefits from the state totaling $680,000 since the state increased monetary death benefits to families of fallen soldiers last August.

From Today's Sun Times

Last October, the state trumpeted a new soldiers' death benefit that awards the largest amount of any state -- $268,000 -- to families of Illinois soldiers who died in the war on terror.

But eight months later, only three families have been paid, frustrating grieving families and prompting embarrassed politicians to pledge changes in the fledgling system.

Although 81 families have filed a claim to receive the death benefit, their cases must snake through a process so bureaucratic it involves at least five different state agencies, including the Illinois Court of Claims, which meets just once a month.

FYI, three does not equal dozens, also for it to really count, the families actually have to get the money. Also it's nice to see we have made this really easy for folks to do since it is taking significantly longer than the 133 days it takes the VA to approve a disability claim.

Remember Governor Gonad ripped the VA for how long disability processing took. Glad to see his adimistration is doing such a better job.

OneMan

From The Sun-Times

In a matter of months, a $60,000-plus campaign contributor to Gov. Blagojevich went from defaulting on a mortgage to heading up a state agency that annually doles out $3 billion in loans."By all accounts, he did a good job," said Abby Ottenhoff, a Blagojevich spokeswoman.

He had the job for a year, I am sure the 60K donation had nothing to do with him getting that gig... For some play on this from a diferent perspective, go here.

Same as it ever was...

OneMan

The Discovery Channel had him on their list of nominees for the greatest American. That's right, Barack Obama has spent less than a year in the senate made the list of nominees.

However the following sons and daughters of Illinois did not (not all born here, but had an infulence here).
Jane Addams
Adlai Stevenson
US Grant
Upton Sinclare
Carl Sandburg
Mary Harris 'Mother' Jones
Frank Lloyd Wright
Carol Mosley-Braun
Everett McKinley Dirksen

Then again Bill Gates made the Top 25 and Eisenhower didn't. I also realize it wasn't Obama's idea to even be on the top 100 list. So take the entire thing with a grain of salt.

OneMan

From the Trib

Pork greased the way to state budget accord

To paraphrase Homer Simpson, Mmmmmm Pork grease.

OneMan

Tom Roeser writes about Oberweis.

Interesting that he writes about Oberweis being a two time loser (three if you count the pass over for Senate when Ryan droped out) but compares him to Wisconsin's William Proxmire...

But his political career resembles that of Wisconsin's William Proxmire. A Democrat, Proxmire ran for governor unsuccessfully in 1952, 1954 and 1956 in what then was a solidly Republican state. He never became governor, but won a special election in 1957 to succeed the late Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy. Once in office, Proxmire so endeared himself to voters with a blend of progressive and conservative themes that he handily won re-election, slowly turning the state Democratic.

Didn't Jack once say Steve R was running the risk of being a perenial candidate (I seem to recall this but can't find the story anymore), but with more statewide loses , Obwereis is following the path of successful democrat?

Going from being the moderate to the illegal aliens are here to take your jobs to the supply-side canidate. He reminds me of Bullwinkle (this time for sure)

There was an officer involved shooting in Oswego recently.
Lucky for us, the experts who write and call into OpenLine in the Beacon know there police stuff. Because if someone is coming at you with a knife, you should try to shoot him in the arm.
This is what happens people when you watch too much A-Team (like that is really possible).

OneMan

From Today's Trib

FAYETTVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Chief Executive Lee Scott said the world's largest retailer needs to lure more higher-income consumers with products like organic food and 400 thread-count sheets to improve sales.

I would suggest you make the lines a little shorter and the stores a lot less messy that would be a better start even than 400 thread-count sheets. I don't shop at Wal-Mart much, not because they don't carry stuff I need, but because the small amount of savings isn't worth the agravation.

OneMan

The MPAA (The Motion Picture Association of America) is going to pay for 10 new surveillance cameras in downtown Los Angeles to try and catch people selling counterfit DVDs...

Perhaps Illinois could tie this into some sort of sponsership thing and get it here as well..

I like the private sector doing things as well as the next Republican but this is just stupid.

OneMan

Well it was a nice little graphic by the Senate GOP folks... The image seems to have gone, bye-bye. I was providing them at least 30 hits a day on the image... Oh well...

OneMan