So the Governor would like to cut back on greenhouse gases. Here is a suggestion, don't fly back and forth to and from Springfield everyday when he has to go down.

Hypocrite..

FYI, OneMan Central is not about 20% ~30% CFLs and that number grows as the old bulbs burn out.

OneMan

Ok gang here is a question for you.

Taking Bill Foster and Jim Oberweis out of the picture since they have pledged significant money to their own campaigns.

How much do you think the candidates in either race have to be able to report in order to be considered legitimate? I talked about this today with someone and they said about 300K on the Republican side? Everyone in the race (besides Clai) will have had a chance to do some fundraising so what do you expect the numbers to come in as...

Then the follow up question what is the "Oh crud" number, a number on each side that is so low that running against a well finance self funded candidate becomes a real problem?

How about on the democratic side is 300K an expected number? (Laesch and Stein have both been running for a while now) what do you think they will come in at.

My guess Laesch at 80K and Stein at 100K and no idea on the Republican side.

OneMan

Looks like another candidate in the 14th, Rudy Clai and this may or may not be his MySpace page (it sure seems to be since the age, name match and it mentions he is running for congress).

The Kane County Chronicle reports he works in the entertainment industry with Doggy Bad and Dude ’N Nem

Suffice to say it does not appear to be a normal candidate MySpace page by any stretch...

OneMan

The Beacon is reporting that the city is saying that the clinic does not need a special use permit.

The center occupies land that was part of a 4,000-acre annexation in August 1973, the same one that brought the Westfield Fox Valley mall into Aurora. This area has its own zoning laws, through planned development district rules, and those laws don't require a special-use permit for medical centers, said Carie Anne Ergo, the city's public information officer.
Tessitore countered that the agreement doesn't specifically exclude not-for-profit medical centers from obtaining this permit, and that he would continue researching the issue.

So I guess this will end up in court as well. Also glad to see that 30+ year old annexation agreements can trump some zoning rules. What else is different within a huge chunk of the east side of town?

OneMan

The Beacon has an interesting twist in the clinic issue

Did Planned Parenthood need to apply for a special-use permit before starting up its new clinic?
That's what one attorney is asking the city. On Tuesday, Aurora-based lawyer Vincent Tessitore, an anti-abortion activist, approached the city with his discovery -- a section of the Aurora zoning code that seems to mandate a special-use permit for health facilities operated by not-for-profit entities.

The gang at the Openline blog are report that PP is saying that they discussed the special use permit with the city.

So here is today's question is PP right because of the nature of the zoning did they not need a special use permit? If the city was wrong and it turns out they do need the special use permit can that be enforced now? Did PP get the no special use permit thing in writing? Could PP get around all of this by creating a for profit LLC to operate the clinic?

Long after being ground zero there are some real development management questions that are going to need to be answered.

OneMan

Speaker Madigan has filed his response to the special session veto. Suffice to say I think Fergus vs. Marks (1923) covers the issue, even if it was under the 1870 vs the 1970 constitution.

So thanks for wasting everyones time and money Governor.

OneMan

Was at my local fast food establishment when the young lady who was about to take my money jumped up and said get it, get it.

Me: Is it a mouse
Her: No it's a cockroach
Me: I think I will take a pass on my meal, thanks

OneMan

If I was able to speak to the Aurora City Council tomorrow night.

(Corrected version I drove by the clinic site and I am now not sure a fence exists on the south boundery, however there does appear to be a change in elevation between the clinic and the residential area to the south)

Mr Mayor, Alderman
By now you have heard from a host of people who have expressed their feeling about the morality of the services provided by planned parenthood. I am confident you have heard enough on that subject to last you the rest of your lives.

I want to discus a different issue, one that may not be more important but one that falls squarely within your role as a city counsel.

The Safety of residents.

As you are well aware the southern property line of the facility is a residential neighborhood. Across the street from the rear of the facility is apartments with sliding glass patio doors, to the direct north a parking lot for Blockbuster and to the west a strip mall.

As Planned parenthood as pointed out by both the physical design of their facility as well as with a newspaper ads in the Beacon News on September 10th they have been a target of violence in the past. There have been over 1,700 attacks against clinics in the years 1977-1994. These acts of violence have included gunfire. Yet it appears that Planned Parenthood has not taken this into consideration in the design of their facility.

They have designed the facility to protect the facility, an understandable action. The facility is protected against gunfire and other risks. However the homes around the facility have no protection from an these risks besides some thin parkway trees to the east and some thin trees and a mild change in electvation. Even a wooden fence is not really an effective form of protection against gun fire. It is also not an effective protection against arson or explosives.

If someone were to try and bomb the facility on it's east side there could be significant damage to the residential area across the street.

The city has a duty and obligation to ensure to the best of it's legal ability that development does not infringe on the rights or safety of others.

For whatever reason, due to Planned Parenthood not being forthcoming or due to someone at the city seeing the plans and not going wait a second, we have a commercial facility next to retail and residential that may pose a safety risk to those others within the city.

Until the city can determine how this happened, due to actions on the part of the city and/or planned parenthood as well as what steps can be taken to reasonably mitigate the risk to the surrounding area the clinic should not be allowed to open.

Regardless of how this turns out, the city needs to take active steps to ensure that development that requires this level of security is not placed next to residential and retail without the appropriate level of scrutiny and review.

I doubt anyone will say this, I suspect they will scream at each other about abortion.

OneMan

You may remember this from a little while back

In and around Sen. Holmes’ district lie riverboats in Aurora and Joliet. All would see fewer customers if the plan she voted for became law. Still, Holmes told me it wasn’t a tough vote to take because Penn National, the owner of those riverboats, told her it was OK to vote "yes." Jones "absolutely" didn’t pressure her, but she also didn’t ask Jones for any projects in return for her support on something Jones coveted. "As a new legislator, it’s hard to know what we’re supposed to do," she told me.

This was back in June....

Just out curiosity did the $2,500 that she got from Penn National Gaming gave her on 4/9/2007 had anything to do with anything. Perhaps if you make a donation to her you to can be able tell her it is 'ok' to vote 'yes' on something.

OneMan

Ok,

Another questions my political pals....

Reguardless of your view on the clinci issue from the abortion side of things.

Do you think if you can frame the issue in terms of 'misleading' the city could political donations from PP (and asking for them to be returned) become a political issue?

That is, "PP mislead the city of Aurora Candidate X took 60K from PP, we feel they should give it back" or does it end up getting back to the core issue of Abortion too quick.

This isn't related to the 14th but some other race(s) and I was kind of curious what your thoughts were.

My feeling is the right mailer could be used to score some points with local pro-choice women. Then again part of me thinks I am nuts for thinking that.

OneMan

Got this in the e-mail account today, phishing e-mail using the idea of a tax refund from the IRS as bait. IE flagged the site as a phishing site. So I would be curious how many folks it got.

Also targeting the IRS, that is a good way to get the feds on you.

OneMan

So the city was able to keep the clinic closed for now. I have to admit that was a bit of a surprise, didn't figure that was going to happen. I am assuming PP will re-file, that filing should be interesting.

Since Zorn has made the point it was understandable for PP to use the approach it did I want to pose this question.

Since it appears the city had plans submitted to them that showed bullet resistant glass and hardening that you normally would not see in a medical clinic (all understandable don't get me wrong).

Did someone at the city go 'Hey this appears to get a rather phyically secure building. Shouldn't we make sure the design includes some sort of barrier between the property and the very nearby residential area?'

If they did, did anything happen with that. If they didn't why not, isn't that what a city is suposed to do in these situations?

Also if you read the PP filing they seemed to make a real effort to make contact with some city officials. What happened with that. That kids is going to be the 50$ question.

OneMan

Spent a little bit of time at the Budget hearing that Linda Chapa-LaVia had in Aurora, I had to duck out during the house budget staff presentation. Decent size crowd, the room was full by the time I left and more people were showing up as I took off.

Most noticeable groups, the disabled and 4-H kids. I realize this is mostly a PR activity, but I think it will have worked out well for Linda. She just needs to remember that it is no longer called sitting Indian Style.

OneMan

Over at Illinois Reason they had some stuff about John Noverini leaving the Republican party and running for judge as a democrat. One of the things they looked at was the response at the Illinois Review.

Well he has a website for his judge run. John, if you are trying to show your democratic props, a picture that includes several other Republicans and Obama isn't really the way to do it. Also the idea that you can endorse him via a web-form is interesting. I wonder how many times Mickey Mouse has done so?

At Illinois Reason they focused on his statements in the Herald, I think the Courier and Beacon got a little bit of a different take on the situation.

"It's not the party, it's the leadership," Noverini said in a telephone interview Thursday. "The leadership has led us to defeat in every statewide office. I want to continue in public service. I don't see how that's possible as a Republican."

So the way I read it. 'If I want to get elected I need to run as a Democrat'. Heck of a way to decide what party agrees with you. Also the leadership of the Democratic party in Illinois is obviously on the right track (just look at what is going on down in Springfield).

OneMan

Listening to NPR this morning the second or third story they did was about OJ...

I swear I heard Danel Schorr die a little bit...

OneMan

It's official, I am too old to sleep on the ground and not pay for it the next day. I felt better the day after the triathlon.

FYI, mummy sleeping bags are not designed for the big and tall.

OneMan

Time to Get my AdMan on again...

Anything new on the Kyla Ebbert front? Well some PR about her lawyer. Not that I really care but Kyla Ebbert seems to drive some traffic to the blog...

OneMan

From the Beacon

Kane County Board member John Noverini, a Republican from Carpentersville, announced Thursday that he will be running for a judgeship as a Democrat next year.

At least he resigned his chairmanship of the Dundee Township Republican Central Committee...

As of now, Noverini becomes a Democratic member of the County Board and will remain a Democratic member of the board -- if he loses the judicial election -- in the future

Good luck on the Judge race John, I hope it will end up being worth it.

There is perhaps more to this than meets the eye, I suspect others will be writing about it and I look forward to reading what they have to say.

OneMan

The Google Lunar X Prize.... $20 Million for the first private team to put a robot on the moon.

Looks like it is time for OneMan to dust off the plans he came up with when he was 6 that involved several metal garbage cans and leaded gas to put himself on the moon...

OneMan

Mrs. OneMan had me sign the kids up for the auto-pay system for school. They end up with 9 digit PINS they need to use.

Because that is what a 6 year old boy wants to do, memorize a 9 digit number he needs to keep secret....

Obviously who ever came up with this system didn't have children.

OneMan

Zorn had some off the 'corporate loopholes' that the Governor wants to address and I figured I was as good as anyone to respond.

Repeal deduction for foreign and domestic dividends received by corporations--Corporations are allowed to deduct dividends received from other corporations, while individuals are required to include dividends as income and pay tax on dividends received. Corporations exploit this loophole to create foreign subsidiaries that return profits to the U.S. parent corporation in the form of dividends, which cannot be taxed under current Illinois law. For example, an Illinois manufacturer creates a subsidiary in Mexico to manufacture widgets and closes its Illinois widget manufacturing facility. The subsidiary returns its profits to the Illinois parent as a dividend. This deduction is encouraging companies to export jobs overseas.

So raising a tax will help keep jobs in Illinois? That's just illogical. No one moves a widget operation overseas to just save the tax expense. The Illinois tax rate is too low to make that worthwhile. You move manufacturing overseas due to lower labor and material costs. The likely difference in shipping costs (domestic vs. importing) would eat up any tax savings from this loophole.

Tax canned software which is subject to written license agreement -- Illinois is the only state the does not tax licenses of prewritten (canned) software and is one of only five that do not tax the prewritten base of software that is modified. Large businesses often escape sales tax on the acquisition of software when they do so through a license agreement, even though the software is identical to that which is taxed when it is purchased by individuals or other businesses. It is unfair to tax the individual or small business user, but not the large business user.

First, where does it say that because every other state taxes something we need to do so as well? There are other implications to the licensing of software besides the tax implications that make it worthwhile to license it (including the cost of upgrades, etc) Also with the growth of Software As A Service (think gmail) where you just pay a per-seat monthly fee to use the software over time corporate expenditures on software produced by other companies is going to go down. This golden goose is going to get killed by technology. Also software requires new hardware, training, etc. The state should be encouraging software licenses and sales not taxing them.

Disclosure moment, I work for a company that licenses software.

Repeal exemption for fuel transported to out of state destinations --By closing this loophole, fuel stored in Illinois will be taxed at the same rate, whether the ultimate destination of the fuel is in Illinois or in another state. Currently the state collects this tax for the LUST fund (Leaking Underground Storage Tax), but gives an exemption for that fuel which is sold in another state. Fuel stored in Illinois and exported to another state poses an environmental risk so the same tax should be charged. Further, the exemption gives a gasoline retailer in a border state at $.011 per gallon advantage over an Illinois retailer, if both buy fuel from the same Illinois distributor. In addition to ending the exemption, this proposal will actually reduce the tax rate from $.011 per gallon to $.010 per gallon, thus reducing the tax on fuel used in Illinois.

For more information about the LUST fund. For the last annual report available on-line 2003.

Perhaps the most illogical of them all, the LUST fund is primarily for storage tanks at gas stations. Not for tanks that store for distribution. Also it would appear that if you are not subject to the tax you can't enjoy the benefit.

That is a distribution facility would not be eligible for remediation with LUST funds. So if we start taxing that fuel, that is fuel that is just at a storage facility will LUST now be responsible for clean-up? That may be a penny wise and a pound foolish.

Also the LUST fund is supposed to pay for tank cleanup, is the LUST fund short of funds? Or is the goal of expanding the tax to make more money available for general revenue funds? Also if they are serious about this, how about removing the exemption for...

Those exempt include airports with more than 300,000 operations per year located in a city of more than 1,000,000 inhabitants (O'Hare International Airport and Midway Airport in Chicago);

Sounds like the Aurora Municipal Airport has to pay so why not O'Hare? I bet that would add some revenue!

So here is the question on this one, does the LUST fund need more money (and should it pick up some liability) or is this being eyed as a way to add some general revenue funds.

If the idea is help Illinois gas stations with out of state compition, then .01 a gallon might help. Reducing the .25% difference in the sales tax on gas with Indiana would help more. Gas is always more than $0.01 cheaper on the other side of the state line.

Require income tax withholding on gaming winnings over $1000 from non-residents--Closing this loophole will allow the state to withhold tax from the gambling winnings of nonresidents, which is consistent with the laws of neighboring states. Currently Illinois residents have to pay Indiana taxes when they win at Indiana casinos, but Indiana residents don’t have to pay Illinois taxes when the win at Illinois Casinos. It is unfair to tax Illinois residents but not those from neighboring states on their winnings at Illinois casinos. The withholding requirements will both ease the burden on taxpayers and will assure that gambling winnings are reported.

Fine. I don't see how this is a corporate loophole, last time I checked Boeing doesn't go drop money at the boats.

Also are we doing this now for the lottery? How about the tracks?

Ok, here is a question. Do you think a candidate should have a MySpace page. I think a facebook page is a good idea, but I am not sold on MySpace. Any thoughts?

Thanks

OneMan

Wow, thanks to the Kyla Ebbert, post my traffic has been up a bit the last few days. Don, made an interesting comment on the original post the prep and the fact she still managed to provide some 'visuals'.

Between the myspace pictures now being all over the place and the Today show footage she has gotten a lot of exposure. As for the lawsuit I suspect it isn't worth enough at this point to be worth a contingency attorney's time.

So thanks Kyla Ebbert for helping my traffic by showing off.

OneMan

The political blogging lesson from Kyla Ebbert, the woman who was on the Today show today talking about how Southwest gave her a hard time about what she was wearing (she wore it on the Today show and showed a bit much).

Rather quickly on Fark they found her MySpace page and were able to capture some photos off of of it before she made the MySpace site private. Suffice to say the pictures were awkward.

Political blogging lessons learned.

-- If there is anything about you in then Internet age, the crowd will find it about you rather quickly if they try. So much like a Senator in a men's room, you might hide it but it will be found.

-- If you are going to go 'public' make sure you know what is going to come out (and make your MySpace page private if you have any pictures on it that you wouldn't want your mom to see).

-- The efficiency of the crowd finding stuff in mind blowing.

OneMan

Some Openline Love for today...

First

I read in the paper that school might be closed on Election Day in District 204 (News, Aug. 30). Why? Another day off for the teachers and children? As though they don't have enough already...

Slackers, because thats right it's all about the day off....

Next

The demonstrators who come from all around us, not just Aurora, should be arrested for disturbing the peace and trying to force their way of thinking on everyone else........
How many people are there in Aurora, and these 100 to 150 people are supposed to decide for all of us?

That one was signed by someone from Oswego. Yes lets all enjoy the irony of it.

OneMan

The NYT has a story about a Glamour magazine interview with Michelle Obama that reveals that Sen. Obama is in fact, a dude....

In an interview with Glamour magazine, Michelle Obama reveals that her husband, Barack, is so “snore-y and stinky” when he wakes up in the morning that their daughters won’t crawl into bed with him

Why do I suspect John Edwards always looks like a million bucks.

OneMan

Had our township GOP meeting. Burns was a no-show and that was a bit of a surprise.

OneMan

I remember back when Zorn would ask me questions like this as well..

So here is my podcast list all the same

Croncast -- My favorite.
Tom Peters -- The business writer/speaker (when he does podcast)
PatMetheny.com Podcast Series -- The Jazz guitarist
The Economist -- The UK Magazine


OneMan

This has to be one of the best ideas ever from Google...

As a Google Business Referral Representative, you'll visit local businesses to collect information (such as hours of operation, types of payment accepted, etc.) for Google Maps, and tell them about Google Maps and Google AdWords. You'll also take a few digital photos of the business that will appear on the Google Maps listing along with the business information. After the visit, you submit the business' info and photo(s) to Google through your Local Business Referrals Center, and we'll pay you up to $10 for each listing that is approved by Google and verified by the business.
All you need to be a successful Business Referral Representative is a passion for helping local businesses succeed, a love for the Internet (some knowledge of Google is great, too), and access to a computer and a digital camera.

HT Ricks shared items.

Imagine what having this is going to do for Google maps (or the iPhone for that matter). You pull into some place and can look at the map and see what is open when and what is where.

Cross reference that and the whole 'I need to find pizza in Tama Iowa at 10PM ' or I need to find a doctor in Winslow AZ becomes a breeze. Since the business can check their data they have ownership and an interest in keeping it up to date. Because of the way people are paid to do this, you can get a lot of data quickly.

Think about how this opens up the web to all sorts of businesses that would never show up otherwise. The implications for the establishments serving the Hispanic Community in Aurora alone are amazing.

Mark my words, this is going to a game changer. Also look for Microsoft to start doing the same thing soon.

Just imagine someone spending a summer on the road, doing this and blogging. I see the representaives who do this being like writter for the 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' in some ways...

Just bummed I am on the waiting list. It would have been fun to do.


OneMan

It's about 22 miles from where my High School was to where the reunion is going to be..


View Larger Map

Ok assume for a second OneMan is going to have a role in one of the 14th campaigns. Should I

• Refrain from posting about the race in general
• Put a disclaimer at the end of each post about the race
• Just have a single disclaimer post that gets linked to
• Not say boo and just keep posting

Loyal reader, I am open for suggestions.

Thanks

OneMan

Got a nice letter from my ISP informing me they are getting out of the residential business and I need to upgrade my service by the end of the year (if available).



Hello Comcast....





OneMan

This week on Pimp My Plane, a Midwestern governor who likes to fly home and wants a fly paint job on his aircraft. Check it out as Air-Rod-One gets a kickin new bass system and spinners for the landing gear. Only on MTV....

Seriously, spending the money to rehab the interior of the thing with all the stuff that got vetoed has to be one of the most politically tone deaf actions ever.

Extending the life of the aircraft, please. You do that with airframe fixes, avionics upgrades and engine overhauls. Not by replacing the seats and a new paint job.

OneMan

Reguardless if Paul Vallas runs for governor ever again or not, if he helps turn around the New Orleans school district they need to build a statue of they man.

Just imagine if the Democrats had nominated him instead of Rod.... (It's like visiting your happy place)....


OneMan

Ok some questions really off the regular topic...

1) Is it normal for a first grader to have one recess a day?

2) If you hear from a bunch of people that the teacher tends to yell is there anything you should be doing to prep the kid for that?


Why I am asking, when some folks heard about who OneSon has for a teacher they said
'Good Luck'
'Have you called to get his class switched yet?' -- Didn't even know that was an option

What I am hearing so far is coming from a 6 year old so I am taking it with a grain of salt, but it jibes with what others warned me about.

I am open to suggestions...

Thanks

OneMan

Was down near Springfield over the weekend.... Man do they feel the love for the governor down there.... Not.  Next year I will have to get tickets for the State Farm LPGA event for OneMan and OneDaughter (still strange that it isn't the Rail Classic anymore)

OneMan

Does gmail allow a . in a name?  I am getting e-mails now from the New Zeland Borders because someone registered on their site with a variation of my gmail account with a . in the middle of my name....

Just curious.

OneMan