We now believe there is ample evidence the cover up was instituted to protect Barack Obama and the Democrat party in the upcoming November 2012 elections.

•  Special Ops personnel were denied permission to go to Benghazi and help those under siege—even though no one knew how long the attacks would last.
• A FEST team was denied permission to go in because conditions were “too dangerous.” Yet, they wanted to go and this is exactly what they’re trained for!
• Gregory Hicks—the #2 diplomat in Libya—was demoted after complaining that that the administration was lying!
• Secretary Clinton was never interviewed by the Accountability Review Board!

Why has there been so little coverage on an attack that cost American lives and is now proven to be an administration cover up? Because the liberal media want to censor the truth in order to protect their ally in the White House. This is a disgrace and it violates every established journalistic ethic

The Democrats monopolized complete control of Springfield 10 years ago, but Democrat Party Chairman Michael Madigan has been speaker of the Illinois House for 30 years now. To ensure it stays that way, Chicago Machine Democrats have gerrymandered congressional districts in Illinois in such an absurd fashion that one panel of federal judges called the new map “a blatant political move to increase the number of Democrat congressional seats,” while another separate judicial panel acknowledged that the new state legislature plan likely was “enacted in large part to give Democrats a partisan advantage.”

The gerrymandered districts delivered Illinois Democrats veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature in 2012 – making even the governor now irrelevant. Speaker Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton can now pass anything they want with lightning speed and without even looking at Governor Pat Quinn, let alone any Republicans that may still be around. The Chicago Tribune printed a fitting cartoon for the fate of the GOP in the Land of Lincoln, where the Republican Party was born:

For starters, Illinois is a forced union state, meaning you must join unions if you work in certain professions and have those dues taken out of your paycheck whether you choose to participate or not. In the annual study conducted by the moving company United Van Lines, the top 10 states that residents continued to flee from in 2012 are forced union/high tax burden states. Illinois finished as the second highest state with the most outbound traffic in the nation, behind only New Jersey.

A study conducted by the Illinois Policy Institute found that more than a net 800,000 residents have migrated out of Illinois over the last 15 years – averaging to about one Illinois taxpayer leaving every 10 minutes, taking away a total of over $26 billion in taxable income with them.

Most will probably remember the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike that got nationwide attention last fall. When Mayor Rahm Emanuel came into office in May 2011, one of his most ambitious reforms was trying to extend the Chicago Public School (CPS) day. Until recently, the CPS school day was a mere 5 hours and 45 minutes – ranking last among the 10 largest cities in the U.S.

Emanuel argued that the city was unfairly shortchanging CPS students in instructional time, resulting in fewer future opportunities for them. He proposed extending the elementary school day to 7 hours and 30 minutes.

The CTU, in turn, then demanded a 30% salary raise. Keep in mind that CPS is a system where the average salary for teachers is $76,450 a year, compared to the $53,976 made by the average private sector employee, where their graduation rate is barely half (55%), and where only 6 out of every 100 children in a system responsible for over 400,000 children will go on to earn a bachelor’s degree by the time they are 26-years-old. A 30% raise would’ve brought the average median salary to around $100,000 for a profession that works 170 days out of the year.

Meanwhile, the CPS system was facing a budget deficit of $665 million in the $5.73 billion 2012-2013 fiscal year. To close it, Emanuel had to raise property taxes, cut costs anywhere possible, and completely drain all the CPS’s cash reserves.

Emanuel even scaled back his longer school day proposal from 7 and a half hours to just 7 hours in an effort to negotiate, but CTU boss Karen Lewis wouldn’t budge. So instead, Emanuel decided to hire an additional 477 teachers to fill in the longer school day with programs that are always on the chopping block such as music, art, foreign language, and physical education, which delivered students a longer school day without requiring CPS teachers to work longer hours.

Basically, there was no money left. Yet not only did the CTU not back down from its salary raise demands, but they were also demanding unprecedented administrative powers that are traditionally reserved for the CPS, including managerial rights, job security guarantees, and a scaling back of teachers evaluations based on standardized test scores.

Ultimately, Mayor Emanuel caved, because unions own the Democratic Party – funding their elections and campaigning for them. Not only were teacher evaluations kept based on a checklist rather than standardized test scores, but CTU teachers also received a 17.6% raise – bringing their total average salary to $89,900 today.

Meanwhile, on the statewide level, out of control public pension costs are drowning Illinois in red ink. The state’s total unfunded pension liability now stands at $203 billion, ranking Illinois as the worst funded pension system in America according to the Pew Research Center. Illinois also owes $43.8 billion more than the net value of all its assets combined, leaving us with the worst deficit in the nation, again due largely to public sector pension costs according to the state’s Auditor General. This has resulted in Illinois seeing its credit rating cut repeatedly by all major credit rating agencies, ranking us … you guessed it, dead last in the nation.

In an effort to stop the state from drowning in pension debt, Democrats passed the largest tax hike in Illinois history: a 67% increase on all income earners and 46% increase on all businesses – all of which went to our pension system and still wasn’t enough to cover last year’s pension deficit, let alone any of Illinois’ $9 billion in other outstanding bills. The tax hike also reversed a trend of job creation as Illinois slowly began to recover after the recession, leading to a spike in unemployment.

Gov. Quinn then proposed modest reforms to fix the state’s pension system and extend its longevity, including: increasing public employee contributions by 3%, reducing the automatic annual cost-of-living increase in retirement, and increasing the retirement age to 67 for current employees, among others. According to Quinn, we could have our pension system 100% funded within the next generation by passing these reforms.

Not so fast, said the Illinois AFL-CIO boss Michael Carrigan, who on behalf of a coalition of unions, called the plan an endorsement of “unfair and unconstitutional cuts.”

Illinois unions persistently protested and heckled Quinn all year long for trying to fix our pension system, even chasing him all the way to Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention.

And what was his plan to bring awareness throughout Illinois for public pension reform? A lame infomercial featuring “Squeezy, the Public Pension Python!”

Needless to say, it didn’t work. The Democrats that unions help to get elected continue to keep a hands off approach to any public pension reform. The Chicago Tribune went so far as to call them cowards, stating, “House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) and their Democratic majorities want you to know they simply are not capable of agreeing on any law that would begin to fix their terrible pension debacle. Nor do Gov. Pat Quinn, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) or House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) have the means to compel them. So as the state’s unfunded pension liability continues to rise by some $17.1 million a day.”

The high debt and high tax climate that has resulted from union control over Illinois’ lawmakers has deterred businesses left and right from wanting to open up shop in Illinois. For example, Nassef Sawiris – a University of Chicago graduate who heads a global firm, Orascom Construction Industries – was looking to establish a $1.4 billion fertilizer plant in the Midwest, bringing with it hundreds of precious, stable, good-paying jobs. Sawiris wanted to build it in Illinois, citing a sentimental attachment to where he received his college education.

But he chose Iowa instead. Why? As he put it, “Illinois’ promised benefits are not sustainable in our view given the balance sheet of the state of Illinois. Whatever tax rates exist today we have to take with a grain of salt. The unfunded pension liabilities of the state of Illinois were a big concern to us, let alone the hypothetical situations that exist in doing business in Illinois and Chicago.”

In fact, Illinois is losing businesses and jobs across state lines to more business-friendly states with better governments, such as Indiana and Wisconsin. As a result, job creation has been poor – so poor that a new study from the IMPACT Research Center of Chicago’s Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights shows that 1 in every 3 Illinoisans are now living in poverty. The 33% figure is up from 25% of Illinoisans who lived in or near poverty in 2000. In 1990, it was 27%; in 1980, 26%. The study also found that almost half of Chicago’s population is living in or near poverty.

With poor education and lack of job opportunities, gang violence is now on the rise. Despite the fact that, as my PolicyMic colleague Charlie Vidal pointed out, Chicago has the strictest gun laws in the nation, the city experienced a 39% spike in gun homicides last year because the illegal gun trade in Chicago has continued to flourish despite the gun ban. Chicago finished 2012 with over 500 murders – and has already seen 22 murders through January 13 – putting it on track to already shatter last year’s record setting gun homicide rate.

Illinois’ second largest city (Aurora), by contrast, experienced zero murders last year. That’s right, not one. Because of strict gun control laws? Nope. As the police chief explained, “If you look at about 2005 to 2007, we took about 150 high-ranking gang members, shooters off the streets in Aurora, with help from federal partnerships with the ATF and FBI. I think that was a big contributor.” In other words, aggressively taking criminals off the streets and keeping them behind bars does more to lower the homicide rate than keeping law-abiding citizens from owning firearms, leaving them vulnerable and unable to defend themselves. Numerous studies have confirmed this before.

In addition to leading the nation in gun homicides, Chicago also leads the nation in corruption according to a study conducted by the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs. It certainly didn’t end with Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). Rep. Derrick Smith (D) was caught on tape taking a $7,000 bribe, has been indicted by the FBI and expelled from the state legislature. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D) was forced to resign from office after facing federal charges for misusing campaign funds and is working on a plea deal that will include jail time.

Both Smith and Jackson easily won re-election by the way, by 62% and 63% respectively. This is how hopeless it is in Chicago, particularly due to gerrymandering districts. From union control to gun control and from out of control spending to out of control corruption, Illinois provides a text book lesson to the nation on how one party rule and progressive policies fail to create jobs, reduce gun violence, improve education standards, fight poverty or provide any public accountability. The only thing even more stunning is how a product of this system could get elected President of the United States. Twice.

In December 2012 the Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced the Growth and Opportunity Project and has been recommended to engage the African American community. The report went on to state:

The African American community has a lot in common with the Republican Party, and it is important to share this rich history. More importantly, the Republican Party must be committed to building a lasting relationship with the African American community year-round, based on mutual respect and a spirit of caring. http://growthopp.gop.com/default.aspx

It is our hope that the next Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party will be a fair and inclusive individual with a vision of Illinois as a true two party electorate system. A future where African American voters in Illinois can have a real choice in elections and are not forced to a single party dictatorship. We encourage you to select someone who will be sensitive to the needs of the Illinois urban African American communities and ensure that African Americans can participate in every level of the Illinois Republican Party.

In the words of Mohandas Ghandi, “No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.”

In earnest,
Jimmy Lee Tillman, II
President Martin Luther King, Jr. Republicans – Illinois

martinlutherkingrepublicans@gmail.com
###

Jimmy Lee Tillman, II is an urban political strategist, founder of the Martin Luther King Jr Republicans, and father of three. In 2010, Tillman received the Republican nomination for Commissioner of the Cook County Water Reclamation District and in 2012 Republican Primary, ran an exemplary campaign for U.S. Representative in the 1st Congressional District. Tillman is an alumni of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio and host Jimmy Lee Underground Radio Network at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jimmy-lee-underground

“On October 1, 2013, the health care law’s exchanges are due to open, forcing millions of Americans into a new government-run insurance market. However, the closer we get to October 1, it is clear that the exchanges were not properly funded in the health care law and to make up the difference, HHS has been siphoning funds from other parts of the law without proper authorization.  To make matters worse, apparently Secretary Sebelius is now fundraising for the exchanges from the very groups she will be regulating and while implementing Obamacare.  This is just another example of the HHS Secretary’s willingness to cut corners and skirt the law while implementing the unpopular health care law.”

The letter to Secretary Sebelius states: “You have publically cited your authority and willingness to force rate reductions on the same companies that the Washington Post reports you have requested contribute to your favored Obamacare promotional groups….  Your fundraising from groups that may apply to receive federal grants as ‘navigators’ and ’non-navigator assistors’ creates the appearance that giving money to meet Obamacare’s funding needs will result in more favorable consideration of a grant application.”

Read the full letter here.

 Is it possible the stunning series of incompetent/immoral incidents listed below will finally get coverage in mainstream media?

 By Jane Ryan Carrell, Northern IL Tea Party

• Beginning with the State Department failure to provide needed security to consular officials in Libya, requested in urgent cables by Ambassador Stevens June 25 and August  8th
• Continuing with the  dismissal of a security team in AUGUST of 2012
• Continuing with the decision to let “locals” defend the consulate, in a place where there should be no expectation the locals could be trusted to defend American personnel
• Continuing with the refusal to send aid when it was desperately requested Sept. 11 in Benghazi
• Continuing with the made  up story of a YOUTUBE video produced by someone, now jailed (free speech!!), a contributor to BHO and creator of a Mohammed-mocking video, purported to have caused a popular uprising in Egypt and Libya
• The scandal documented with 12 changes to the original CIA-provided talking points, with references to Islamic terrorists removed, and the story of the video inserted
• Though fact of the Al Queda-linked terrorist participation in the well-planned attack was certainly known within two days of the event, President Obama was still “spinning” the Islamist-offending video story 14 days later, on Sept. 25, before the UN.
• Now we learn below that CIA Director Gen’l Petraeus’ resignation may have had more to do with the General’s dissatisfaction with the “talking points” than any marital indiscretion.  If true, he paid a high price for disagreeing/his integrity.

We began the Illinois Conservative Examiner to encourage conservatives to become involved in public policy and run for office at all levels of government. ICE News is not funded by the government like NPR. ICE News is not funded by the government like PBS. We rely on individuals like you to help us report the news the liberal media distorts and chooses to ignore.

The Midterm elections of 2014 can change the complexion of our nation and our future. An organized conservative groundswell at the ballot box can ensure the GOP keeps control of the U.S. House and gains ground in the Senate. In Illinois, we can oust Gov. Pat Quinn and replace him with a proponent of smaller government, pro- business and individual freedom and regain seats in the state house. We can do it by taking control away from the Chicago Democrat Machine and House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Help ICE News fight the good fight and spread the word that We Can Take Our Country Back. Support the Illinois Conservative Examiner: Please consider your most generous gift possible sending a contribution of $20, $50 or $100 (scroll down and CLICK on the DONATE button) or place an ad with our website newsletter.

We are currently offering a Spring Rate of 25% off all ads when you run at least two weeks. Your continued support through a donation or advertisement will ensure that ICE News is here reporting THE TRUTH, for a long time to come. It’s fast, easy and secure.

The Left will do everything they can to support Barack Obama . Nothing else matters to them. If the news can help Obama, they will report it. If it hurts him, they will ignore it or misreport it. Help the ICE News to expose the liberal media’s dangerous agenda and defend conservative leaders, values and principles against the Left’s politics of character assassination.

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The Editor and Staff of the Illinois Conservative Examiner.

You can verify this at: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/blum.asp
The sale of these properties will bring in billions of dollars and, with that, millions of dollars in commissions for the one Company that is in charge of handling the sale and negotiation of the new leases.

What makes this such a matter of concern to me is that the Company that the Government has contracted with to conduct the sales (and the corresponding leases for the new locations of the displaced post offices) is owned by Richard Blum.
What ? Didn’t that name mean anything to you? Maybe I should re-phrase and say that the person that owns the company that is solely in charge of this
multi-million-dollar transaction is Richard Blum the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Anything strange about that?  

Not from a liberal Democrat…

There are attempts to hide it but cracks are widening in this Democrat hierarchy. Despite mainstream media’s diligent efforts, Democrat woven designs are coming unraveled. Stubbornly, Benghazi won’t go away. It’s becoming a widening stain. No matter how full Obama packs his mandatory, worshipful audiences, or how many trips he makes abroad to deride America, his halo is slipping. Strident supporters (e.g. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Maher) are, by their own admission, “beginning to get nervous.” Despite the administration’s full court press, insisting that there is nothing to see here, more is being seen and acted on daily.

Two political shifts in The Force seem to be GOP candidate Gabriel Gomez of Massachusetts, and Dana Spain of Philadelphia.  If the name Gabriel Gomez is unknown to you, it isn’t to Massachusetts residents. Mr. Gomez, in a blinding upset, won the GOP primary on Tuesday last for the special election Senate race. Why an upset? Because Mr. Gomez, according to The Hill, is: …“a Hispanic former Navy SEAL (and an) investment firm executive”.

Mr. Gomez is, in short, a successful, experienced executive that has credentials to kick butt.  Massachusetts has become a state of liberals who, under the harshest conditions, have been mugged. Their recent collision with terrorism has, literally, cut the legs from under them. They seem primed for a political change.  And Massachusetts likes what it sees in Mr. Gomez.   Gomez has unassailable, Washington-outsider credentials.  Mr. Gomez’s Democrat opponent in the primary is eighteen-term Rep. Edward Markey.  You read that correctly. 36 years in Congress. And Markey, in typical Democrat style, is already running attack ads picturing Mr. Gomez and Osama Bin Laden on split screen.  If Mr. Gomez can manage to avoid channeling Scott Brown and ignore milquetoast advice from establishment Republican advisors, he has a good chance of winning the Senate seat; despite decades in Congress, Markey currently leads Mr. Gomez by just 4 points.

Philadelphia is a liberal monopoly. In the upcoming mayoral election, however, there may be a new sheriff in town.  Ms. Dana Spain, a registered Democrat, would run as a Republican. A native of Philadelphia and a successful businesswoman, Ms. Spain is devoted to rebuilding Philadelphia’s crumbling brand. That is key; Philadelphia is the nation’s 5^th largest city. Ms. Spain, spanking new to the political scene, asserts “I am an outsider. The only thing that I have in mind here is to fix the city that I love.” Why run as a Republican? Because her intent is to repair what’s wrong, not to control how people live. Significantly, a fractured GOP is coalescing behind her.

These are just two, small forays into territory considered unalterably Democrat. Neither of these candidates is Conservative, to be sure but, neither one is Barney Frank, either.  Change comes slowly.  If this is any indication, Americans can reclaim the political reins and defy political carnage.

Then there’s Illinois. There, Democrat Governor Pat Quinn could be kicked out of office in 2014 by Illinoisans sick and tired suffering under a one-party Democrat dictatorship. Quinn, actively disliked by many in his own party and thought of as a ‘bomb thrower’ and an outsider, was ‘given’ a bone (Lieutenant Governor) by the state party to get them out of their hair never thinking then governor Blago would end up in prison – like so may Illinois governors before him.

If the state GOP can get it together, they can take the seat and, joined by the Republican minority in the state capital, force the Chicago/Cook County Democrats to the bargaining table and bring sanity back to Illinois and stop the flight of taxpayers to other (read Republican) run states.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

A successful December 21, 2012 Liberty Counsel appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court for an emergency temporary injunction is all that prevents this law from full implementation. This major restriction of free speech for CA parents, mental health providers – including counselors and clergy, is being buried in a law that the majority of Americans would never think about reading.

SB 1172 is now Article 15, Section 865 to Chapter One of Division Two in the state’s Business and Professionals Code Relating to the Healing Arts.  This report will explain the core of the law and its impact on CA’s children, parents, counselors, and conservative clergy.

The new law’s Art. 15: Section 865.1 states: “Under no circumstances shall a mental health provider engage in sexual orientation change efforts with a patient under eighteen years of age.” Section 865 (b) (1) defines sexual change efforts as “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.” 

The law includes an exhaustive list of who is considered a mental health provider in 865 (a); however; any licensed (or certified) marriage and family therapist or counselor is included in the list.  Though the law does not explicitly include clergy by title; the legal fact is that any pastor, rabbi, or priest who is also a licensed (or certified) marriage and family therapist would be considered a mental health provider.  According to 865.2, that clergy member would be forbidden from dissuading anyone from practicing homosexual acts that is under eighteen in their congregation, despite parental insistence.  If they do anything but encourage the minor to explore or embrace homosexuality; they could have their counseling license revoked in CA.

Additionally, 865 (a) deems public school counselors to be mental health providers too.  Further, 865 (2) says that acceptable conversations or modes of therapy for homosexual minors are only those which support “safe-sex” practices that “do not seek to change sexual orientation.”

What else could the law have required?  The April 16 amended draft is one of the only versions available online with all the redactions visible.   A look at the redactions is a good way to see the lengths to which CA lawmakers were willing to go to violate doctor-patient confidentiality and parental rights in order to encourage minors to explore homosexuality.

Originally, the state was willing to permit counselors to encourage patients to question homosexuality and undergo behavior modification if the parent consented and the minor was told what the therapy would be like and how long it would last.  The minor and parent would also have to have been given a brochure produced and distributed using taxpayer dollars that would explain why they should not participate in any attempt at altering their homosexual desires or explorative goals.

In exchange for this concession; mental health professionals would’ve had to give the CA Department of Mental Health annual reports on the treatments of their patients, clients, or congregants that included everything about the minor patient, client, or congregant and their situation that included everything about them except their name.  This requirement included everything from the age and sex of the patient to the issues with which they were struggling and the provider’s reason for recommending that the individual not embrace homosexuality.  The state even wanted to know the “method of payment” the family was using to cover the cost of the care.

Eventually, the draft language of 865.2 (a) eventually said explicitly what the language of the final draft which became law said implicitly:  Under no circumstances shall a patient under 18 years of age undergo sexual orientation change efforts, regardless of the willingness of a patient’s parent, guardian, conservator, or other person to authorize such efforts.”

At the end of the day; a law buried in a code few people rarely, if ever consult, if violated, threatens the licenses of any conservative psychologist, psychiatrist, nurse, doctor, counselor, or pastor who encourages a minor to question embracing homosexual exploration or lifestyle because homosexual activists consider such recommendations child abuse.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

What is going on? At a time when America needs strong leadership, we have a President who alternates between dangerous hesitancy and equally dangerous recklessness; someone who seems truly committed only to one thing—using leftist ideas to radically transform this country into a place we won’t recognize as our own. This is clearly the best synopsis of what has happened in the Benghazi fiasco that we’ve seen. Amazing job Judge Jeanine Pirro!

Let us know what you think in the comments below!