Waging a war on socialism worthy of chronicling in a concept album by Rush.
Made In America
From Scottish Parts
A Matter of Priorities
10:39 pm, 7/18/07
A Matter of Priorities
What do you get when a state that should be in survival mode is instead trying to figure out how to pay for health insurance for the children of families who can already afford it? System-wide collapse.
This isn't Alberta, Kuwait or Norway, folks. The money isn't coming out of the ground, there isn't an unlimited amount of it, and the basic duties of state government are not being performed. It's one of those situations that's truly alarming, because you have to wonder, if things are this bad, exactly how Louisiana-like would it be if there were a natural disaster?
What do you get when a state that should be in survival mode is instead trying to figure out how to pay for health insurance for the children of families who can already afford it? System-wide collapse.
While Illinois lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich haggle over a spending plan for the coming year, documents show some state facilities are literally falling apart.Blagojevich has tied these critical repairs to his controversial jobs programs, some of which I addressed many moons ago in a post entitled "Just Give Him Your Wallet". Essentially, since Blagojevich is psychologically incapable of liberating the state's economy, he wants the state to create jobs directly by spending billions of dollars it doesn't have to build, among other things, roads and highways it doesn't need. In one case, he dug up $20,000,000 to hire bricklayers to add different colors and textures of bricks to state highways, to "add variety" to the system.
From leaky roofs to broken air conditioning systems, state documents show that bureaucrats are spending millions of dollars to try and stay one step ahead of the deterioration.
At Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, for example, documents show a leaky roof installed 19 years ago has resulted in at least two cells being left unusable after it rains. Officials say it could get worse, eventually affecting the gymnasium, a computer room and several other key offices.
"If not repaired, this building may soon become unusable for its current functions," Warden Gregory Firkus wrote in a letter requesting $329,150 in emergency funds to fix the problems.
At Shawnee Correctional Center in Johnson County, officials said there are numerous fire code violations that have cost taxpayers $667,800 to fix in recent months.
At the state's main office building in Chicago, officials estimate the cost to repair a fire-control pump at $150,000. Without the emergency repair, the safety of the occupants of the building, as well as important state records, is in question.
Records show roof problems at the minimum-security lockup in Vienna have cost more than $2.4 million to fix. Without the work, officials said the interiors of 10 buildings were in jeopardy.
Northern Illinois University has spent nearly $486,000 in recent months on emergency repairs. The roof on the Neptune West residence hall was so leaky that several dorm rooms had to be closed. Road surfaces on the campus also had to be repaired to make sure emergency vehicles could reach at least two dormitories.
Southern Illinois University says it needs nearly $400 million to upgrade facilities at its Carbondale campus. At Illinois State University that figure is over $250 million. Eastern Illinois University says it needs $120 million to upgrade facilities, while the tab at Western Illinois University is $105 million.
This isn't Alberta, Kuwait or Norway, folks. The money isn't coming out of the ground, there isn't an unlimited amount of it, and the basic duties of state government are not being performed. It's one of those situations that's truly alarming, because you have to wonder, if things are this bad, exactly how Louisiana-like would it be if there were a natural disaster?
