The Iroquois County Tea Party held a Tax Day rally the evening of April 15th at the Masonic Lodge in Watseka. Over sixty people attended. The rally began with a prayer from Pastor Ron Bogenschneider. Our first speaker was state representative Jason Barickman (R-105th district). His remarks focused on the state's fiscal health. "Illinois is $4.14 billion in debt according to State Comptroller Judy Barr Topinka," said Rep Barickman. "We have $2.5 billion in debts unpaid for more than sixty days. We have to stop spending money we don't have." Representative Barickman listed two things he has done recently to reduce spending. He won't grant legislative university scholarships, and he is sponsoring a bill that reduces spending for lawmakers' offices. He also asserted in his remarks to the rally that our public pension system is unsustainable. "We have $87 billion in unfunded pension obligations," he said. He also noted that business people in east-central Illinois have told him, "Jason, I moved my business twenty miles to the east." In Indiana, said Rep. Barickman, worker's comp is four times less than in Illinois. He also noted that Medicaid reform in Illinois is critical. Our next speaker was Rae Ann McNeilly of Taxpayers United Of Illinois. "We should be having a discussion on the proper scope of government," she said. "Our government wasn't created by the founders to be as huge as it currently is. We have to decide what agencies and benefits we can live without." Ms. McNeilly went on to observe that before the creation of the Department of Education by President Carter, The United States was ranked tenth in the world educationally; now we're ranked twenty-fifth. Her support for a national sales tax was enthusiastically endorsed by the audience. The focus of our rally shifted when Anne Irhke of Buckley, Illinois spoke about wind energy in Iroquois County. "There is a pending house bill that would allow Ameren to raise its rates every year without a vote by legislators to help Ameren cover the enormous cost of this conversion to wind technology," she said. Mrs. Irkhe believes that wind energy is a part of a larger elitist project to reshape America. "If we don't stay angry, focused and informed, the America we know will be gone." Our last speaker also addressed wind energy. Rich Porter of Paxton, Illinois is a former writer for radio and television in Champaign. Since his retirement, he has researched energy policy in this country, and he believes that government and some business allies are stacking the deck in favor of "renewable" forms of energy such as wind and solar, whose benefits have been greatly hyped. "We have a president who says no to mining and no to drilling, and he's on record for hoping to bankrupt coal companies. The EPA would like to declare coal a hazardous material and close coal-fired electrical generating plants.Our electrical bills could double," said Mr.Porter. Mr. Porter also addressed the use of so-called "smart meters," currently in use in Texas and the source of considerable controversy because they limit a home's use of power. These meters "are a crucial component to integrate wind and other renewables into the grid and greatly reduce our energy use. The public is being manipulated and misled. We need to ensure that better people serve on our county boards- people responsive to our needs and not government or coporate money." Mr. Adrian Calhoun, a student at Oliver Nazarene University, sang our national anthem and "America My Home" after the opening prayer. Jayne Henrichs of Cissna Park and Kena Clark of Milford sang a duet of "America the Beautiful" to conclude our evening. Refreshments were served, and a fifty-fifty raffle was held, with a portion to be donated to a wounded veterans' fund.
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