Author Archive

A Republican Renaissance in Alaska? David Cuddy Cha ...

by John Bambenek

When David Cuddy decided to run against Senator Ted Stevens for the Republican nomination for the US Senate in Alaska, he had no idea that Stevens was going to be indicted on federal corruption charges. He was simply tired of the excessive earmarks, the disapproval of Congress in general and that Stevens was not focused [...]

Book Review: The Case Against Barack Obama b ...

by John Bambenek

For people who pay attention to politics, the phrase “Chicago Machine Politics” means all the worst aspects of electioneering, corruption and dirty politics. Jobs are handed out as political favors, contributions are solicited in exchange for contracts, and government workers spend their times leading up to Election Day doing political work on behalf of [...]

Is Obama Afraid of Change for Illinois?

by John Bambenek

The presidential candidate for change has adopted the twin themes of "hope" and "change" for his political campaign. These themes are the creation of David Axelrod, Barack Obama's senior campaign adviser. It was a stroke of brilliance to tap into the widespread disaffection with Washington D.C. and the growing irritation among normal citizens that they [...]

Can a State Constitutional Convention Save the Illi ...

by John Bambenek

One of the chief arguments against a constitutional convention is that “they” will take away the pensions. In fact, there are some proponents (chiefly business groups) that advocate scrapping the pension system because it is a large part of the state’s debt. To be fair, in about 10 years, the state’s pension obligations [...]

The Illinois Senate’s Version of the Recall A ...

by John Bambenek

After the fiasco two weeks ago, when the Illinois Senate buried Rep. Franks’ recall amendment (HJCRA28), Senator Hendon introduced his own recall amendment in the Senate. This version (SJCRA70) is substantially similar to Rep. Franks’ recall but has a few changes: the ability to recall judges, the Governor and Lt. Governor have to be [...]

Can a Constitutional Convention Fix Illinois’ ...

by John Bambenek

Illinois voters will be presented with an historical opportunity to fix the structural problems that plague Illinois government and fix deficiencies and loopholes in our current constitution. There are problems that can only be fixed in a constitution but the entrenched interests have come out saying a convention is unnecessary. Here is why they [...]

What if Chavez Isn’t Bluffing About War with ...

by John Bambenek

Hugo Chavez is making news again, this time threatening war with Colombia (a U.S. ally) over the assassination of terrorist elements that have taken refuge in Ecuador. The facts aren't quite known, but it is alleged the Colombia sent military forces into Ecuador to attack members of the FARC, a terrorist group that has been [...]

The Health Care Crisis and Why it was Inevitable

by John Bambenek

Since 1970, the health care industry has undergone a revolutionary change. Before that time people were overwhelmingly (about 70%) in traditional indemnity plans where patients pay a certain percentage of health care costs. With the passage of the Health Maintenance Organization Act written by Ted Kennedy (D-Mass), very quickly over 70% of Americans [...]

Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize First Ever Given ...

by John Bambenek

Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for 2007. According to the Nobel Foundation, the award was given “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to [...]

Columbia was Right in Hosting Ahmadinejad

by John Bambenek

The controversy surrounding Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia is still roiling the campus and the legislature. Representative Duncan Hunter, a non-factor in the Presidential race, has threatened to cut all federal funding from Columbia for hosting the event. It's just not no-name presidential candidates hungry for airtime that are complaining. Conservative groups across [...]

If Congressional Approval Falls Below 10%, Do We Ge ...

by John Bambenek

The latest Zogby poll shows that only 11 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. This is contrasted with Bush's underwhelming 29% approval rating. These polls show that Americans of all political stripes are losing faith in their government. Congress' all time low (prior to this poll) is 18% [...]

Greenspan is Right about the Republicans and the Ec ...

by John Bambenek

Many on the right are lamenting the "conversion" of former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and will likely start to discredit him for committing the unforgivable heresy of praising Clinton and criticizing Bush. Specifically, he praised Clinton for his fiscal-minded policies and focus on the spending deficit. Conversely, he criticized Bush and the [...]

FEC Evasion and the Regulation of Political Committ ...

by John Bambenek

The Federal Election Commission has recently ruled on the complaint filed against Kos Media (of DailyKos.com fame) that alleged it was running a political committee and did not file the required disclosures. The case was MUR 5928 and the documents are available via the Commission’s Enforcement Query System (put 5928 in the case field). [...]

The Absurdity of the Marriage Debates

by John Bambenek

This week a study came out that shows how unilateral divorce laws make divorce more frequent. The empirical research shows what any sensible person would already guess — easy divorce laws make for more divorces. This is only magnified by the fact the divorcing party usually has great incentives to divorce and few [...]

Socializing the Free Market of Ideas

by John Bambenek

In response to the Center for American Progress’s hit piece on talk radio imbalance, various Senators have expressed support for resurrecting the Cold War era “Fairness doctrine” which requires equal airtime for opposing points of view. Senator Feinstein (D-CA) specifically rejects she said they wanted a legislative fix for conservative talk radio, but still [...]

National Organization of Women Files Suit to Abolis ...

by John Bambenek

Vote for this post on Digg)
The National Organization for Women (NOW) and other women advocacy groups have filed suit against the Bush Administration seeking to abolish Fathers Day. During a press conference held after the filing of the lawsuit, Kim Gandy of NOW said, "the day clearly indicates that it is meant to recognize [...]

The Environmenatlists’ War on the Poor

by John Bambenek

Denver has recently announced a policy that plans to remove 500,000 cars from the road in an aggressive attempt to curb the effects of global warming. This follows on the heels of other plans nationwide to reduce emissions as well as commentary from elites who encourage the further increase in gas prices so fewer [...]

What the Law is vs. What the Law Ought to Be

by John Bambenek

Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that a female employee who sued for what seemed to be obvious discrimination in her wages could not bring suit because she took longer than the statutory 180 days to bring the complaint. In her defense, she did not know of the discrimination that took place over the course [...]

New Jersey Department of “Put the Fork Down, ...

by John Bambenek

The state of New Jersey has recently announced that it will be creating a state agency to deal with the growing problem of obesity among that state's citizens. This follows on the heels of many other local and state governments taking action against trans fat and other health measures designed to slim down the collective [...]

16-Year Old Girl Denied Bail for “God Hates F ...

by John Bambenek

Two girls were arrested in McHenry County, Illinois last week for distributing flyers at their school that depicted a male classmate kissing another classmate and had the words "God Hates Fags" on the flyers. The two were charged with disorderly conduct and felony hate crimes. As can be expected, debate has been generated on the [...]

Winning the Debate by Silencing the Opposition

by John Bambenek

Anyone who has taken a Constitution class in high school knows that the First Amendment protects the right of all people to express almost any idea they want in the public square (with the exceptions of inciting riots, threats of violence, etc). Yet there is one group the various pundits insist need to be silenced [...]

France Becomes Respectable Again

by John Bambenek

Sources are reporting that center-right French Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has won the election by about ten points in France. The results mark the latest European government to make a rightward lurch in political orientation in the last several years.
Despite waging a dirty campaign that included a spam campaign suggesting riots and damnation should [...]

Why Abstinence Education Does Not Work (and It̵ ...

by John Bambenek

Every few months the abstinence education advocates and the comprehensive sex ed advocates trade studies back and forth. “Comprehensive sex ed works!” “Abstinence education works!” The back-and-forth clubbing of studies may make for good headlines but largely misses the point.
While it can be argued that comprehensive sex ed may increase sexual activity (much like the [...]

Ramming Values Down American Parents’ Throats

by John Bambenek

The war against abstinence education wages on across the country. The comprehensive sex ed crowd was apoplectic with the results of a Mathematica study that showed kids who had abstinence education programs were just as likely to engage in sexual activity with the same rates of “dangerous” behavior. The flip side of the study showed [...]

Rush to Judgment Only Perpeturates VT Tragedy

by John Bambenek

“If all Americans want is security they can go to prison. They’ll have a roof over their heads and enough to eat.” – Dwight Eisenhower
In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre a predictable cycle began. First, there was the obvious and warranted period of shock and mourning. This period is the shortest of [...]

Rep. Murtha Proves Impeachment is About Criminalizi ...

by John Bambenek

Listening to the far-left’s cries for impeachment one can seriously believe that the United States has become akin to fascist Germany. They seriously believe people are being rounded up in the middle of the night because they “spoke out”. Never mind not one single example can be mentioned.
Today the California Democratic Party passed a resolution [...]

Supreme Court Rules Abortion Not Sacred

by John Bambenek

The partial birth abortion ban ruling is a watershed moment in the abortion debate. It isn’t because it “restricts a right for a woman to choose” or that “it is the beginning of the end of abortion”, it’s that it is a vindication for a common-sense understanding of the Constitution.
The foundational rights of this nation [...]

The Right to Choose: Legalize Homebirth Midwives in ...

by John Bambenek

Senate Bill 385 is currently before the Illinois General Assembly. This bill directs the state to create a professional license for midwives to attend homebirths. Our current laws allow a woman to give birth at home, but make it illegal for midwives to attend those births. This essentially takes away a woman’s right [...]

A Constitutionally Protected Right to Market Pornog ...

by John Bambenek

A federal district judge has recently ruled that the Children’s Online Protection Act is an unconstitutional suppression of free speech. The law requires porn site operators to verify that patrons are 18 years old before giving them access to pornography. The lawsuit, brought by the ACLU on behalf of several sexual health sites and salon.com, [...]

Why Normal People Don’t Run for Office

by John Bambenek

I decided to run for the Champaign Unit #4 school board because I was tired of complaining in my columns and to others of my dissatisfaction with Unit 4. I ran to try to be part of the solution, not to be another pundit engaging in a blog B&W session. For this, I have been [...]

 
 
 
 
tos | privacy policy
MensNEWSdaily® © 2001 - 2009 Java King, Inc.. Opinions found on this website are expressly those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this publication, its editorial staff or contributors. Words, graphics, audio, video, and all other content published on this domain must adhere to our Terms of Service . JAVA KING, INC AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, ADVERTISERS, SPONSORS AND AFFILIATES, DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS OR ENDORSEMENTS HEREIN EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.
Site Meter