Lake Foresters for Dan Seals

Can Dan Seals really unseat an incumbent? Two events in Lake Forest this week put in sharp focus why Dan Seals will be elected our next Congressman on November 7. On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending an afternoon gathering at the home of our state senator, Susan Garrett, featuring Senator Dick Durbin (does any state have two better Senators?!) and Dan Seals. The turnout was amazing. In our mostly Republican community on a rainy Tuesday afternoon at 4:15, with almost no advance notice, somehow over 150 people managed to sneak away early from work or family duties to meet Dan Seals and to hear Durbin eloquently describe why representatives like Dan Seals are needed in Washington. He pointed out how Mark Kirk has failed to represent the moderate viewpoints of his constituents as John Porter did before him, how he has voted with Bush over 90% of the time and how he “has broken your hearts” with so many of his votes, such as those supporting a war based on a mountain of lies, and the embarrassment of his Terry Schivo vote. On Thursday afternoon, I attended the forum on food allergies at my daughter’s school, Everett Elementary. This is clearly an important issue and Mark Kirk was in attendance and I congratulate him for supporting this scientific research. But why (10 weeks before the election) is he finally attending forums in the district? Where has he been for the last 6 years? Who has ever seen him other than at a parade or at an event where the attendees are carefully screened? Granted he doesn’t require audience members to sign loyalty oaths as Bush does, but he sure doesn’t go out of his way to find out what the people of his district think. We have been waiting for three years to hear about the secret info he was privy to that convinced him that Iraq had WMDs. When the right wing of his party tried to begin their plan to dismantle Social Security, did he hold any public meetings (despite numerous requests from his constituents) to tell us what he planned to do about their privitization scheme? With oil companies posting profits higher than any company in the history of the world, did he hold any meetings explaining why he voted to give billions in tax credits to these same companies? When someone votes the party line 90% of the time, why would he not mention on any of his campaign materials that he’s a Republican? As a proud member of “Lake Foresters for Dan Seals”, I encourage all “Porter Republicans”, independents and Democrats to join me in voting for a true fiscal conservative and social moderate who will faithfully represent the Tenth District and will make us proud – Dan Seals.

Is Lebanon Unique?

Anyone with half a brain (which excludes the current administration in the White House) knows that Americans will continue to be shot at and killed in Iraq as they are seen as an occupying force. The only solution is to do what should have been done in the first place - send international troops, led by troops from Muslin countries, into Iraq. Why is it that Bush agrees on the need to send in international troops to secure the peace in Lebanon days after hostilities end, but refuses to do the same thing three and a half years (and thousands of lives) after his disastrous folly in Iraq?! Gee, could it be because Lebanon doesn't sit on a huge pool of oil and doesn't have a ton of "projects" that his Halliburton buddies can make billions a year on?