Gordy over at IlliniPundit is busy declaring things improved over in Iraq. Apparently a poll came out showing that Iraqis think there shouldn't be a Civil War. And ... well ... that's really all there is.

Meanwhile, the National Priorities Project came out with some interesting statistics recently. Apparently the Iraq War has now cost the American taxpayers $318,500,000,000. Locally, Champaign County's contribution to the war totals $66,000,000. The population of Champaign County is 184,905. Busting out the ole calculator shows that each person in Champaign County has contributed $356 of tax dollars to the war effort. The average for a househould is $828.

Of course this is just an average. Nationally the situation looks worse.

That is $2,844 for every American household or $1,075 for every American. The money (already spent or allocated) is being spent at a rate $10 million per hour and $244 million per day.

And what could this great nation have bought with that $318 billion? Using this handy chart, it seems the State of Illinois could have:

• Hired 285,812 additional public school teachers for one year.
• Insured 9,875,579 children for one year.
• Provided 799,506 students four-year scholarships at public universities.
• Built 148,497 additional housing units.

But hey ... at least the Iraqis feel like they'd rather not have a Civil War. That was worth it. Right?

In other news, Dr. David Gill is still running for Tim Johnson's seat. Dr. Gill has made clear that he does not support the war, and actually has a plan to get us out of there. Mr. Johnson has, well, not really spoken about the issue for some time (that I could find). He did vote yes on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date. (Jun 2006).

The choice is clear. 11 comments

Well, it looks like the cursed New York Times has turned The Great Eye on Illinois for 500 words or so. Turns out the Anti-Gay-Marriage crowd was trying to get a referendum against same-sex marriage onto the November ballot. They failed:

“It’s not near over,” said Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute and Protect Marriage Illinois, a group that supports the referendum.

Referendum supporters are appealing a decision this month by a federal judge who dismissed the lawsuit.

Well, maybe it's not over. Great. Personally, I do appreciate the Illinois Family Institute's generous use of Abe Lincoln images and, of course, the prodigious use of Ole' Glory. Is there a theme there? Ole Abe and Ole Glory? Maybe ... old? Conservative?

But, I digress.

In an interesting twist, neither of the major Gubernatorial candidates are in favor of the amendment, though it is fairly clear that a person voting for the amendment would probably also vote for Topinka.

“Don’t tinker with the Constitution if you don’t have to,” Ms. Topinka said.

Right. Topinka's not very smart, is she? On a related note, the NYT has Topinka down in the polling, 40 to 47 percent.

She does actually look like Heat Miser though, doesn't she? Hmm. 3 comments