Memorial Day: Being Thankful that Such Men Lived

Last weekend, on Armed Forces Day I visited a few of the war memorials and President Lincoln's tomb at Oak Ridge cemetery here in Springfield. It is amazing the somberness, yet peacefulness, of the site. The memorials were constructed in remembrance of the many Illinoisans who gave their lives for our country in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. These large pieces of marble and concrete have the names of Illinois soldiers who died and included every branch of the military involved in these wars. The World War II memorial had a timeline of the entire war and a giant globe with markers noting every battle location. There were also quotes from various generals and military leaders etched into the marble of this memorial. My favorite is from General Patton and is depicted below:

I do think there is a definite respect we need to pay and a somber mood we need to exhibit on Memorial Day (and everyday) when we remember those who died for our freedoms. Freedom isn't free, and it has been renewed at a heavy price throughout our nation's history, but as the General said, we can be thankful that such men and women not only died for the principles of liberty, but they also lived for liberty and gave us the opportunity to do so as well. I see General Patton's words as a challenge. Do we truly appreciate and live for the liberty that we have here in America? Are we truly thankful for the freedom of speech or religion we do have? While we see these liberties too often impinged upon, are we nevertheless utilizing those liberties to prevent that impingement from perpetuating? One of the beauties of the Constitution is that built-in self-preservation of those freedoms, if we take the opportunity to exercise our freedom of speech, religion, the press, suffrage, etc. Be the people that General Patton mentioned--the people that lived for freedom.

That freedom of religion is, to me the most precious, and one of those exercises of the freedom of religion is the weekly communion that I share with my brothers and sisters in Christ. The church I am a part of has a member of the congregation share a brief message before we break the bread and share the cup in remembrance of Christ's death for our sins.  Usually on the Sunday before Memorial Day, whoever shares the message invokes Memorial Day. Although there is no true comparison between the Son of God coming down from heaven and taking on human form, living a perfect life, and dying for our salvation, there are those parallels in the sacrificial nature of Christ and those soldiers who died. The soldiers died for those precious earthly freedoms we have, but Christ died for an eternal freedom from sin in Him--that we would be forgiven of our sins and  given the opportunity to share eternity in heaven with Him. There is great joy as well in the fact that Christ lives. His power came not solely in His perfection that allowed Him to be our sacrifice, but in the power in the resurrection. He lives too! We can be thankful, just as Patton said about the sacrificial soldiers, not only that Christ died, but that He lives. It is His life that gives the truest hope. As it says in I Corinthians 15:19 in the Bible, " If for only this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men". However, our hope in Christ is for eternity, and the freedoms we have in Him extend beyond this earthly life. That's real hope.

I'm a proud "bitter clinger", but there is nothing "bitter" about that faith in Christ. As Governor Palin has said (paraphrasing), "we cling to God, not because we are bitter, but because He is better". There is much gratitude we owe to those soldiers who have lived,fought, and died for the principles of freedom, but there is an eternal thankfulness to Christ that He not only live and died for our salvation, but that He also lives today.

Crossposted here and here.

Sarah Palin--the Galileoan Expo Eraser

Since Deb Fischer won the Nebraska Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, the discussion of the power or intent of Governor Palin's endorsement has been discussed by many in the media. Some have tried to pass off Fischer's win as the result of the fact that her opponents turned their guns on each other, and she escaped unscathed.  In other words, Governor Palin's endorsement had little to do with the victory. The folks at Breitbart, and even some at the New York Times, have recognized the power of Governor Palin's endorsement.  Heck, even, Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post, gave some backhanded credit to Governor Palin for Fischer's win. However, there are those who are questioning not only the power of Palin's endorsement, but the intent. They are trying to imply that Governor Palin primarily endorsed Fischer because she is a woman, when so much of the support for Fischer extended far beyond that.

It's easy to recognize with Deb Fischer's win that Governor Palin endorsement played a big role in  Fischer's campaign, alongside a big grassroots effort in Nebraska. This is the kind of boost that Governor Palin provided that helped Nikki Haley win her gubernatorial primary in 2010.  Governor Palin's endorsement is powerful, but it isn't solely about getting the candidate over the top to win. It's about changing the way the game is played. It is not about gender, though Governor Palin definitely wants to see more conservative women in politics. Remember too that Governor Palin endorsed Rick Perry over Kay Bailey Hutchison and Deb Medina in the Texas gubernatorial primary and Joe Miller over Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska Senate primary in 2010. Really, those two endorsements tell quite a bit of the story when it comes to the meaning of her endorsements.

When Governor Palin released her congratulatory note about Deb Fischer's victory, she noted:

As recently as a week ago, Deb Fischer was dismissed by the establishment. Why? Because she is not part of the good old boys’ permanent political class. The message from the people of Nebraska is simple and powerful: America is looking for real change in Washington, and commonsense conservatives like Deb Fischer represent that change.

This is what Governor Palin's endorsements are about--real change and ridding Washington (or the state halls) of the permanent political class.This is not better seen than her recent endorsement of Richard Mourdock in Indiana to replace veteran Senator Dick Lugar, nor in her endorsements opposite the Bush endorsed Kay Bailey Hutchison and coattail riding Lisa Murkowski. While many questioned her 2010 support for Christine O'Donnell, her intention was to send a message to the Establishment and to the permanent political class--which extends beyond those who hold political office. The message echoes Reagan's -- "those voices don't speak for the rest of us".  Suffice to say, Governor Palin is the Expo eraser to Karl Rove's dry erase board. It's about the principles of the party, not the party itself. While the Roves of the GOP want the tent to get bigger, the Palins of the GOP want to ensure that the tent--no matter its size-- has its stakes driven into solid enough ground that it won't collapse.

It's not solely about opposition to Rovian-Schmidtish political strategy though. Governor Palin views politics and policy in a way that very few in politics do-- both politics and policy must revolve around the people, not the party. Governor Palin recognizes that politics is not just a battle between right and left; it's a vertical battle between top and bottom--both within the party structure and as a matter of policy. Governor Palin is the political Galileo ( with Ronald Reagan as Copernicus). You may recall that Galileo was an astronomer who pursued the ideas Copernican  heliocentrism--the concept that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the other way around. The Catholic church declared him a heretic and put him under house arrest where he continued his work, and of course, he was eventually proven right. This Galileo-Palin comparison may not be perfect in its entirety, but it shows an important point. Those in the permanent political class wish to believe that all political power revolves around them, when it really revolves around the people--the people who vote, not those who pontificate. The same concept is true for policy. The big government views of the Left and the "pro business" views espoused by many in the GOP think that government exists to do things for the people or for businesses. Governor Palin is pro market. Who is empowered in a pro market economy? The consumers (the people). The people determine whether or not a business fails or succeeds by their purchasing power--not by the special loans of the big government Left or the special tax breaks of the pro-business GOPers, but of the the Galileoan pro-marketers.

This is what makes Governor Palin's speech in Iowa late last summer so compelling. She laid out a vision of a pro market economy--no corporate taxes, but no corporate welfare, no special tax breaks or subsidies either. In other words, let the people decide what business fail or succeed by their purchasing power. Also, as Governor Palin wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, echoing Peter Schweizer's book Throw Them All Out,  let there be no more crony capitalism and no more special treatment of politicians. This is the very thing that Deb Fischer espouses too. If you look at her campaign website, Fischer notes specifically "reform Congress and Washington D.C." as one of her policy plans. As example, Fischer mentions some of the very same things in this policy plank that Governor Palin did in her WSJ op-ed:

Tighter Ethics Laws

• Prohibit Members of Congress and federal employees from trading stocks based on information obtained on the job that is not publicly available.

• Prohibit Members of Congress, their staffs and federal employees from disclosing nonpublic information for investment purposes.

• Prohibit Members of Congress, their staffs and federal employees from purchasing land based on inside information that is not public available.

• Require Members of Congress to be subject to the same laws and privileges as every citizen of the United States.

This brings everything full circle. Whether it's an endorsement or policy driven speech, Governor Palin's influence is powerful and so is her impact on ridding the political system of the permanent political class and replacing it with what the Founders stated at the very beginning-"-We the People".

Crossposted here and here. 

April 2002: Drilling in ANWR Would Take 10 Years to Produce: The Consequences of Inaction

Senate Republicans have release the following video noting Senate floor discussion from ten years ago this week when Democrats were claiming that we can't drill in ANWR because it would take 10 years for the oil to be produced (H/T the Heritage Foundation):

Here we are ten years later, and ANWR is still closed to production, yet the obstruction of liberals who would rather invest taxpayer dollars in solar companies that inevitably fail than reap the tax revenue from a proven source of energy that would also create jobs and provide economic and national security. ANWR is overwhelmingly abundant with both oil and natural gas. ANWR has the potential to produce 1 million barrels of oil a day, which would replace the amount that we import from Iraq. It is slightly larger than the state of Delaware, but would leave a footprint roughly equivalent to LAX (2000 acres). In other words, less than 0.5% of the geographic area in ANWR would be used for development, yet it has the capacity to replace the amount of oil in the 7th largest import nation.

Governor Palin noted in highlighted in her Facebook note yesterday how much energy independence is interrelated with all components of public policy and daily life:

 He fails to understand the fundamental truth that there is an inherent link between energy and prosperity, and energy and security. Oil prices affect everything in our lives, including where we send our sons and daughters in war. Developing resources here grows our economy, decreases our trade imbalance, creates hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, and secures our union by eliminating our dependence on dangerous foreign regimes who use our energy insecurity as a weapon against us. Access to secure domestic energy will make us a more peaceful and prosperous nation. 

Obama doesn’t understand this—just as he doesn’t understand the dangers of his wasteful spending. Our energy policy is also linked with our fiscal and monetary policies. In light of America’s unsustainable $16 trillion debt, there’s more talk about dumping the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency, which is the currency used to buy and sell oil. If that happens, we’ll feel the pain of inflation everywhere—especially at the pump. That, in turn, will trickle down to everything in our economy. Those living on fixed incomes and retirement pensions and annuities will feel the pain especially hard. So, this is one more reason to get government debt under control with sound monetary policy that doesn’t try to “inflate away” our debt with currency manipulation and gimmicks like quantitative easing.

There is an interelatedness between our national security and energy security. The 4th largest importing nation is Venezuela--a nation controlled by a dictator closely allied with Iran, who has threatened multiple times recently to block the Strait of Hurmuz where 20% of the world's oil passes through daily. Oil from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait all are transported through this area, and these three countries are among the top ten importing sources of oil. Drilling here instead of relying on foreign nations has the potential to create a million jobs by 2018. Plus, what could be secure our nation more than to make America our own greatest source of energy.

One thing that Governor Palin understands that very few people mention is the relationship between monetary policy and energy. In fact, Governor Palin warned about how a devalued dollar may lead to the the dollar being dropped as the reserve currency and the relationship of that sobering possibility to both inflation and the debt  two and a half years ago in October of 2009.  This is a point she later echoed when she called out Ben Bernanke on his quantitative easing implementation in November 2010:

 All this pump priming will come at a serious price. And I mean that literally: everyone who ever goes out shopping for groceries knows that prices have risen significantly over the past year or so. Pump priming would push them even higher. And it’s not just groceries. Oil recently hit a six month high, at more than $87 a barrel. The weak dollar – a direct result of the Fed’s decision to dump more dollars onto the market – is pushing oil prices upwards. That’s like an extra tax on earnings. And the worst part of it: because the Obama White House refuses to open up our offshore and onshore oil reserves for exploration, most of that money will go directly to foreign regimes who don’t have America’s best interests at heart.

Now, nearly a year and a half later, and oil is over $100 a barrel. This, of course, makes the price of everything higher. Not only is inflation by itself causing consumer items to be more expensive, but high fuel prices (also raised by inflation) are contributing to increased consumer prices as well. But, oh no, we were supposed to listen to our betters who told us ten year ago that ANWR would take too long to develop.

Crossposted here.

If This Is a War on Women, Why Do I Feel Like I'm the Grenade?

The Washington Free Beacon reported today that despite President Obama’s “Republicans are waging a war against women” rhetoric the women on his staff are paid less than the men:

Female employees in the Obama White House make considerably less than their male colleagues, records show. According to the 2011 annual report on White House staff, female employees earned a median annual salary of $60,000, which was about 18 percent less than the median salary for male employees ($71,000). Calculating the median salary for each gender required some assumptions to be made based on the employee names. When unclear, every effort was taken to determine the appropriate gender.

That difference in annual salary is more than enough to pay for Sandra Fluke’s birth control if she were to go to law school three times (using her math)! This is par for the course for President Obama (pun intended) who paid men more than women when he was in the Senate (Senator McCain did pay women equally), as then Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin noted in a speech in October of 2008 (see the7 minute  mark):

  Following that speech from Governor Palin, the Obama campaign attempted to defend his record:

The Palin campaign cited press reports from last month and Senate records to back its claims on Obama’s pay to Senate staffers. The discrepancy, however, appears be that more top level staffers in Obama’s Senate office are men, and therefore have higher pay. The Obama campaign points to the many senior-level female staffers currently employed on the presidential campaign trial.

Nice try, guys, but why are more top level staffers men? Are women not capable of holding top level positions? The White House hasn’t responded yet to the latest news of their pay disparities, but I would imagine their argument is similar for his presidency.

 The hypocrisy is just as much of a problem as the issue itself as the president points fingers at everyone else while he is doing the same or worse himself. This is what he has done by jetting all over the country while condemning Americans for driving SUVs or while he and Mrs. Obama eat junk food while lecturing citizens about the need to eat healthy. This “war on women” is not an issue of policy, but of politics.  It is an election year after all. The politicization of this issue though demeans women, rather than empowers us on multiple levels.  By promoting this war on women in conjunction the discussion of the forced coverage of birth control, liberals belittle the intelligence of women by assuming we vote with our uterus, rather than our brain. Furthermore, it assumes that we don’t seek the personal economic empowerment needed to pay for our own birth control if our employer’s insurance doesn’t cover it.

 The war on women has in reality turned women into grenades in a partisan battle, and it is divisive. In addition to the class warfare that President Obama has waged throughout his presidency, most recently in his absurd claim that President Reagan would support the Buffett rule which would raise taxes on the very wealthy, he has tried to divide on racial lines and other “identity politics” groups.  Such rhetoric dilutes the liberty of the individual. Margaret Thatcher once said, “ [t]here is no such thing [as society]! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first.”  When people are divided into groups of society, their identity lies in that group and subsequently so does their liberty, or lack thereof, and they are not free to provide for themselves. Businesses are stymied by overbearing regulation which makes them less free to hire people. Unemployed individuals who could be hired by overregulated business don’t have the freedom and resources to provide for their families. Those with jobs have less financial freedom because of the increased cost of consumer products due to that overregulation, bad energy policy, and poor monetary policy that has devalued the dollar. This all happens when a political war is waged in the foreground, while the president’s economic illiteracy is pushed to the background.

 This war on women (or whoever is the identity politics flavor of the month) has turned women into grenades in a partisan battle, and the political war at large waged by our President has taken individual freedom hostage.

Crossposted here and here.

Thank you for your service, Representative Johnson!

News emerged this evening that central Illinois representative Tim Johnson would not seek re-election in the Fall after winning his primary race just a few weeks ago. Representative Johnson's record has been one of principle and independence. He hasn't always toed the GOP line and perhaps always hasn't been as conservative as some would like, but he has voted his principles and above all, has always been responsive to his constituents.

Representative Johnson was my representative until I moved out of his district almost five years ago. One thing that I've always appreciated about him is that he stood for what is often an ignored minority, the minority that represents 20% of the American population--rural America. He fought for rural communities and agriculture. While that meant he stood for the less-than-conservative ethanol subsidies, he still stood for the people themselves, not just their vote, and was a very critical voice in the questioning Jon Corzine when he "lost" millions of dollars of farmers' money.  Representative Johnson is known for being very connected to his constituents. He always is on the phone with constituents, and often times he would go to the local mall to walk, which served as a great way to stay in touch as well. In fact, one of his unofficial "advisers" and walking buddies was a nice older gentleman whom I attended church with, a retired agronomy professor who was head of the local senior Republican group.

 One thing that I particularly appreciate about Representative Johnson is that he took the time to come and speak to Community Health students when I was in grad school. My Seminar class included developing a lecture series where we invited individuals to come and speak about health care practice and policy. Our class had invited then Senator Obama and our local Congressman, Tim Johnson, and various other individuals. Obama never responded, but Johnson did. He came and spoke at one of those lectures and talked about health care spending, tort reform, and things like personal savings accounts. It was one of the few exposures that my classmates and I had to conservative health policy, much to the dismay of our liberal professors.

There are a few other things in particular that I will praise Representative Johnson on. The STOCK Act  was signed into law today by President Obama with much of the impetus coming from the great research done by Peter Schweizer.This law bans insider trading by Congress, and although it doesn't go as far as it should, it is a start. Prior to the revelations of Schweizer's book, legislation banning insider trading by Congress was tossed around, but of course, most legislators never took it seriously nor supported it. Representative Johnson, though, was one of the co-sponsors when such legislation was first considered in 2006.  Johnson isn't known for going along to get along. He was of the few, if not the only, Illinois Republican (who chose to endorse) who did not endorse Mitt Romney for President. He endorsed Ron Paul in part for his independence, a trait they both share. They both also share a propensity to either purchase ill fitting suits or not seek the services of a tailor.  I appreciate his willingness to continue to buck the Establishment in Illinois--one that does't get bucked often enough.

I certainly hope the GOP can find someone solid to run in his place, but whatever the case may be I appreciate his service to the people of central Illinois.

Wisconsin Flashback: Governor Palin Stands with Us

With Wisconsin’s primary election this week and with recall elections for several Wisconsin officials coming this summer, I can’t help but be reminded of Governor Palin’s epic speech at a “Tax Day” Tea Party rally in Madison, Wisconsin nearly a year ago.  On a cold, snowy Saturday last April she gave an amazing speech during a pivotal time in Wisconsin’s battle for public sector union and budgetary reform. On the day of that speech, I made the drive up to Madison from Springfield, Illinois to attend the event and to help out with some Organize4Palin’s early efforts in Wisconsin, an experience I recounted here.

After being introduced by the late Andrew Breitbart, Governor Palin spoke to thousands of Tea Partiers and many noisy union protestors as well who were blowing on their vuvuzelzas and banging on their drums like they were attending the Socialist World Cup or something.  I spent some time before the event handing out Organize4Palin palm cards and asking if people were interested in joining Organize4Palin’s email list.  Throughout this time and during Governor Palin’s speech, I would tweet something about the event or tweet a picture. I remember one tweet arrived in my mention column that particularly struck me.  That tweet said something to the effect of “if Governor Palin runs for President, Wisconsin will remember that she stood with us”.

 I completely respect and trust Governor Palin’s decision not to run for President this cycle, but that tweet still rings true. Where were the current GOP candidates when Wisconsin needed someone to stand with them? They weren’t there because it wasn’t politically expedient for them. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum were in the early primary state of New Hampshire that “Tax Day” weekend . Newt Gingrich was in his home state of Georgia at a GOP event, and Mitt Romney was in critical electoral state of Florida meeting with donors and holding a public campaign event.  Governor Palin was on the frontlines in the battle—Wisconsin. Governor Palin wasn’t fighting for herself; she was fighting for us and with us.  Last summer, I wrote a post entitled “Governor Palin, George Washington, and the Battle for Our Country” where I discussed Governor Palin’s stance with Wisconsin:

Governor Palin’s prescience shone through once again in recognizing the importance of the political battle in Wisconsin as the “frontlines in the battle for the future of our country”. Earlier this week, recall elections were held for six Wisconsin state senate seats that the unions hoped would flip to break up the Republican’s legislative majority. Despite the fact that recall supporting groups spent at least $30 million for these elections, the Republicans still maintained their majority. These victories come on the heels of other victories for Wisconsin: the re-election of Justice Prosser, a WI supreme court judge (whom Governor Palin endorsed) and the budgetary  victory passed by the WI legislature signed into law by Governor Walker, which Governor Palin spoke of in her speech. These recent political victories may prove to be a precursor to the 2012 elections. 

Governor Palin’s speech in a fierce physical and political climate during a heated period of politics is just one example of Governor Palin’s participation in the battle for the future of our country. In the Spring of 2010 during the impassioned debate over Arizona’s immigration law, Governor Palin stood with Governor Jan Brewer in support of her effort to secure Arizona’s southern border. When the Tea Party was accused of essentially being an accomplice to murder after the horrific action of a madman in Tucson, Arizona, Governor Palin stood side-by-side with the Tea Party while others felt they “didn’t want to get in the middle of [it]”.Several days following the Tucson shooting, Governor Palin released a video where she said, in part:

President Reagan said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.

Most recently during the debt ceiling debates, after some felt it necessary to pejoratively refer to the Tea Party as “hobbits”, Governor Palin challenged Congressional freshman to“remember the ‘little people’” who elected them.  She has stood for and fought with the Tea Party every step of the way. In short, Governor Palin has been on the front lines of the battle for the future of our country. She has been the leader of the Tea Party, not because she deemed herself the leader, but simply because she has acted as the leader. Whether it was standing with conservatives in Wisconsin or Arizona, supporting Tea Party candidates in the 2010 elections, giving speeches at Tea Parties around the country, or defending the Tea Party against scurrilous accusations and derogatory rhetoric, Governor Palin has been the one leading the fight and battling in the trenches.

Fast forward to 2012, and Governor Palin is still fighting with the reformers in Wisconsin, even when the local and national establishment is, as she describes it, “sitting on their thumbs”. Last week, Governor Palin wrote a strong message of supported for Wisconsin’s Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch:

She’s being thrown beyond the wolf pack – she’s also under the GOP establishment’s bus because this Tea Party “Mama Grizzly” beat the establishment candidate when she got elected. (And dang, it’s uncomfortable under that chassis!) Rebecca must be thinking, “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” Worse than seeing radical Leftists attack and make things up about a Conservative female opponent is when supporters on the Right sit on their thumbs and act as if there’s nothing they can do to help. Come on! When all else fails you can at least tell the truth! Tell other voters why you supported Rebecca in the first place. Explain her campaign promises and how she has stuck to them and – surprising in today’s political world – is actually fulfilling them. She promised to help balance the budget, cut taxes, build a sound fiscal environment, and provide job opportunities for all Wisconsin residents – not only our union brothers and sisters. She’s setting an example for every other state in the union because responsible state and local governments will be the entities that defend our Republic at a time when there is less and less reason to believe our big centralized federal government will address its self-perpetuated economic problems. 

The far Left has targeted Lt. Governor Kleefisch in particular because they know she’s been busy working and hasn’t raised anywhere near the money Governor Walker has to weather his recall. And get this: they are hoping to keep her off the same ballot as Governor Walker, and instead they would love to put her on a ballot during a Democratic primary in order to give her the worst voter turn out possible. It’s vicious. She’s in the fight of her political life for doing nothing more than what she and Governor Walker were elected to do. If Wisconsin sees either of these two go down in defeat, it will have a chilling effect on any public servant having the guts to do what’s right.

This stance is what separates Governor Palin from most political figures. She stands for what’s right regardless of whether or not it’s political expedient, or whether or not she does so in office, as a potential candidate, or as a private citizen.

Crossposted here and here.

Recent Blog Posts at Big Government and the New Agenda

I've been lazy about cross posting my blog posts back here at Little Blog on the Prairie the past six weeks or so, so I've decided just to link my posts below. I've had the opportunity to write on topics ranging from Women's History Month to the lies of the anti-Palin HBO film "Game Change" to crony capitalism in Washington DC and Chicago.

The New Agenda:

"Game Change" Proves to Be Yet Another HBO Failure

We've Come A Long Way, Baby, But Still so Far to Go

HBO's "Game Change" Creates a New Film Genre--Histrionic, Historical Fiction

Celebrating Women's History Month--Reaching the Summitt


Big Government:


Algae-Based Biofuels: More of President Obama's Green Cronyism

President Obama's and Governor Quinn's Economic Philosophy--"It's All Greek to Me"

Feds Give Millions to Company Under SEC Investigation

Cronyism in Chicago Public Schools' Cafeteria