Illinois' Senator and his "good work"

So--I stumbled across yet another email today...full of fact (and backed by resources cited) and I can't help but wonder, what are people thinking?!? They're going to believe a man, just "cuz HE said so?!?" Nevermind the fact that most of the things he says "aren't true" are backed by FACT. I know McCain is not the ideal candidate...but come on people, open your eyes!! This man just gets to unassociate himself with groups KNOWN to be Anti-American and he's a God. McCain is associated with a man from WATERGATE and he's the devil...hmmm? It gets worse and worse every day. This email really hit home with me today and I just had to share: But when someone claims to be an agent of CHANGE knowing how to get things done for the better, I look into the facts of that claim. So here it is plain and simple. Senator Obama has been my Illinois U.S. Senator for the past three years and before that the Illinois State Senator representing the south side of Chicago from 1998 to 2004. Prior to that, he was a “community organizer” on Chicago ’s south side for 3 years. By looking at the CHANGE he brought to his constituency we can then see the CHANGE he is capable of bringing to the nation as its president. They are dismal at best. There's now enough degradation, desperation, dereliction and delapidation (how's that for the 4 D's?) in his old district to make the worst corrupt graft-ridden Chicago politico blush. I may not be able to persuade many Chicagoans who are blinded by Obamamania to understand this, but I believe it is my moral imperative to show my friends and acquaintances in other states and cities that Senator Obama's kind of CHANGE (at least what he brought to us constituents) is NOT for America . Illinois is among the worse in the nation, fewer jobs and less prosperity under Mr. Obama's State and U.S. Senatorial leadership. Of the United States , in economic performance Illinois ranks: 48th in economic performance. This is dismal. Illinois is doing better than only two states, Michigan and Ohio . ( Rich States , Poor States , ALEC-Laffer State Competitiveness Index). 42nd in economic outlook. Neighboring Indiana and Missouri rank well ahead in terms of future opportunity at 12th and 17th respectively. (Ibid, Pgs. 68, 69 and 80) 43rd in annual GDP growth, averaging only 4.5% over the past decade, a 3.1% decline from mtwo decades before, when Illinois averaged 7.6% annual growth in GDP. (www.ilga.gov/commission/cgfa2006/Upload/0907ComparativeStudyofILEconomy.pdf) 46th in debt burden as a percentage of total tax revenue. ( Rich States , Poor States , ALEC-Laffer State Competitiveness Index) And Illinois continues to spend government revenue growth on government expansion (health care, education, child care, etc.) rather than funding past debt obligations, including pensions. 44th in personal income growth per capita over the past decade, averaging at 3.83% while the U.S. average is 4.19%. (www.ilga.gov/commission/cgfa2006/Upload/0907ComparativeStudyofILEconomy.pdf) 47th in employment growth from 1977 to 2006, ranking ahead of only Michigan , Ohio and Louisiana . (Ibid) 37th in improving its standard of living, growing at only 1.13% per year over the past decade. While Illinois ranks relatively high in standard of living (18th), the state continues to fall farther down the ranks. (www.ilga.gov/commission/cgfa2006/Upload/0907ComparativeStudyofILEconomy.pdf) 48th in net domestic migration, with over 727,150 people having left the state from 1997-2006. ( Rich States , Poor States , ALEC-Laffer State Competitiveness Index) Illinois is shrinking in economic output: Today Illinois produces 32.1% less in economic output of the U.S. total as compared to 1963. Illinois is shrinking in terms of manufacturing jobs, having a net loss of 241,000 jobs since 1998. Bureau of Labor Statistics The growth of the Illinois economy has lagged behind the rest of the country for each of the last three decades. (www.ilga.gov/commission/cgfa2006/Upload/0907ComparativeStudyofILEconomy.pdf) In taxes, Illinois ranks: 7th highest in median property taxes paid. (www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22607.html) 14th overall tax burden in the nation. (www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/452.html) 9th in property tax burden per household. (www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/251.html) 4th highest gas tax burden (approximately 40 cents per gallon). (www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/245.html) 1st in sales tax burden ( Chicago and Cook County - Obama's districts as a state senator). (www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22979.html) 17th in overall sales tax collection per household (reported PRIOR to the recent increases to highest in the nation). (www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22437.html) In Education: Illinois ranks 20th nationally in spending per pupil but only 35th in overall academic achievement. (www.alec.org/am/pdf/states/illinois2007.pdf) Only 28% of Illinois 8th graders are proficient in math, ranking the state 34th. (Department of Education, 'Revenues and Expenditures by Public School Districts: School Year 2002-03', published in November 2005 and NAEP 8th grade reading and math scores, published in October 2005) Only 31% of Illinois 8th graders are proficient in reading, ranking the state 24th. (Ibid) Chicago has a graduation rate of just 51% and a dropout rate of 41.6%. While both of these numbers have been marginally improving over the past few years, they are still dismal. In Health Care: The state of Illinois currently owes approximately $1.7 billion in unpaid Medicaid bills to the state's health care providers. (www.civiccommittee.org/initiatives/StateFinance/FacingFacts.pdf, pg 6) Illinois ranks 26th in the percentage of the population who have health insurance with 86.6% covered. (http://covertheuninsured.org/states) Average cost of a family insurance policy in the individual marketplace is $5,438. This compares to neighboring Wisconsin at $3,087, Michigan at $4,116, and Iowa at $4,477. ( AHIP Center for Policy and Research, www.ahipresearch.org/PDFs/StateData/StateDateaIllinois.pdf) Health insurance inflation comes in the form of benefits mandates. Illinois has 40. (Council for Affordable Health Insurance, www.cahi.org/cahi_contents/resources/pdf/HealthInsuranceMandates2008.pdf) These factual statistics just scratch the surface of where Chicago and Illinois is now as a result of the CHANGES Senator Obama worked hard on for us. One only needs to drive down Halsted Street in the Englewood neighborhood (50th to 60th Streets) to get a better view of the horrid results of the Obama CHANGES, if any. END OF EMAIL. I will close this posting with a quote that has really caught my eye: "What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears as easily as we open and shut our eyes!"--Georg Christoph Lichtenbergfrom