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The presidential race drives turnout to the point where down-ballot candidates must struggle mightily to rise above the noise and get their messages heard by distracted voters.
And since there are no statewide races in Illinois this year here, that means there are no truly high-profile campaigns to "break up" any presidential advantage or momentum.
Congressional races are all that state legislators have now to cushion the blow from the top, and down-ballot candidates are increasingly pinning their hopes on those contests.
After 2010, Downstate looked like highly fertile ground for the GOP. Had the Republican Party fielded better candidates in the Metro East near St. Louis, for instance, they might have picked up more seats.
But 2010 is little more than a memory these days, and although Downstate still has several opportunities for Republicans, the northern and northwest Chicago suburbs appear to be gaining importance. Lots of proud ticket-splitters in the region, along with some viable Republican congressional incumbents (Bob Dold, Judy Biggert and Joe Walsh), means the region could be at least somewhat fertile ground for the GOP.
The 29th Senate District might be one example. Arie Friedman, R-Highland Park, is running as a moderate Republican. He was slammed hard late last month by the conservative Illinois Family Institute for claiming to be pro-choice, which the Republicans actually loved. They believe the attack will help Friedman with more moderate voters, and that's the path to victory.
The Democrats thought they had this one in the bag, along with both of its House districts (Rep. Elaine Nekritz and Scott Drury). But the area's congressional races (especially Dold) have the Republicans believing they're at least in the hunt in all three legislative contests.
Polling shows single-digit advantages for the Democrats in those legislative battles. If Congressman Dold's lead evaporates, then the down-ballot Republicans are probably cooked. If he hangs in there, the down-ballot Republicans might at least have a shot. So far, Dold appears to be holding his own. The latest We Ask America poll taken last week had Dold up by almost four points.
The Senate Republicans are hammering Friedman's Democratic opponent, Julie Morrison, in the mailboxes these days. Two recent mailers highlighted Morrison's struggles on three separate occasions to answer questions about where she stood on the state income tax increase.
The Republicans believe that once north suburban voters have "checked the boxes" on abortion, guns and other social issues, they're open to listening to fiscal messages, like taxes. That worked well for Mark Kirk in the area when he was congressman, and Dold has positioned himself the same way. Friedman has a history of being a conservative, however, so this is somewhat of a GOP makeover attempt and the Democrats are saying voters won't buy into it. They may very well be right. The Republicans may have needed a more moderate candidate there.
What looks to be a fairly close congressional race in the Quad Cities/Rockford/Peoria region is working to the Democrats' disadvantage in state Sen. Mike Jacobs', D-East Moline, district.
Sen. Jacobs has made some major missteps in his career, so he has real problems with his Democratic base. And even though Obama will win Jacobs' district by a sizable margin, Jacobs is still struggling hard to defeat Republican Bill Albracht. And Albracht is being helped against the prevailing presidential winds by GOP Congressman Bobby Schilling's race against Cheri Bustos. The latest We Ask America poll taken last week had Schilling leading by about 2 1/2 points, while President Obama led by about seven points in the district.
This explains why the state Republican Party chairman recently declared that most of his organization's energy would be focused on congressional races this year. Simply put, the Republicans have to break up Obama's momentum high up on his home-state ticket and create some of their own momentum in the congressional races to avoid a down-ballot disaster.
For his part, Obama helped the Republicans by performing badly in his first presidential debate against Mitt Romney. As a result, Obama lost ground nationally, and right here in Illinois.
That doesn't mean Obama will lose Illinois (or even the election – George W. Bush badly lost his first 2004 debate to John Kerry and still won), but if he doesn't regain his footing it could mean that Republicans running for Congress and state legislature won't have to push so hard against the wind.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com


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"Large crystal local-field effects in second-harmonic generation of a Si/CaF${}_{2}$ interface: An \textit{ab initio} study", Phys. Rev. B, vol. 86. American Physical Society, p. 035309, 2012.,
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"Band structures of Cu2ZnSnS4 and Cu2ZnSnSe4 from many-body methods", Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 98, 241915. 2011.,
"Correlation: coupling of excitations". Workshop « Strong Correlation from First Principles (SC1p) », Kloster Seeon, Germany, 2011.,
"Density Functionals from Many-Body Perturbation Theory: some thoughts". CECAM workshop on "How to Speed up Progress and Reduce Empiricism in Density Functional Theory", ACAM Dublin, Ireland, 2011.,
"Density-based mixing parameter for hybrid functionals", Phys. Rev. B, vol. 83. American Physical Society, p. 035119, 2011.,
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"Design of effective kernels for spectroscopy and molecular transport: Time-dependent current–density-functional theory", The Journal of Chemical Physics, vol. 134. AIP, p. 084102, 2011.,
"Double excitations in correlated systems: A many–body approach", J. Chem. Phys. , vol. 134, 034115. 2011.,

subset: commoncrawl


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VICTORIA -- After months of leaving the heavy lifting on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline to others, the B.C. Liberals finally weighed in Monday with their take on the controversial project.
The announcement, led by Environment Minister Terry Lake and Aboriginal Relations Minister Mary Polak, was framed as an outline of the "minimum requirements" that need to be met before the province would "consider" Enbridge or any other proposal to pipe heavy oil through B.C. for seaborne export.
But the accompanying technical report, running some 52 pages, didn't come close to making the case that the risk would be worth it. For the most part, it confirmed what critics have been saying all along.
The Enbridge project would mean more tankers and bigger tankers carrying heavy and dirty oil over an environmentally sensitive landscape and exceptionally risky waters. Granted tanker safety has improved and the incidence of serious spills has declined.
Still the report concedes the bloody obvious: "It only takes one major incident to cripple an ecosystem and incur enormous costs on the responsible party, individuals, local communities and other sectors of the economy and government."
Sooner or later and usually sooner, every Enbridge opponent gets to talking about the Exxon Valdez spill. The Liberals do so as well right there on page 11 of their report.
Exxon is reported as having to pay out $3.4 billion damages so far in connection with its 1989 Alaskan spill while, more than two decades afterward, an equal number of claims are still being fought through the courts.
All this is in the context of the report's telling observation that, legal liability limits being what they are in this country, an offending company "may not have to spend more than approximately $1.3 billion cleaning up a spill" on land or at sea in British Columbia. Governments would be on the hook for the rest and the cleanup might take 10 years.
The B.C. officials who put the report together did a comparative survey of the resources, here and elsewhere, for responding quickly to pipeline ruptures on land and tanker spills at sea. The findings were far from reassuring.
Such is the state of affairs here on the West Coast that governments ought to be engaged in a major effort to increase response times and resources to meet the risk of existing tanker traffic, never mind considering proposals (as they are doing with Enbridge and the nascent plan from Kinder Morgan) to double same.
The report also went beyond environmental concerns to raise a matter that, all by itself, could be fatal to the project's chances of going ahead.
"We are concerned that to date B.C. first nations do not appear to have been appropriately and meaningfully engaged in the project," read the survey of the to-date extent of outreach to aboriginal people on the Northern Gateway proposal.
"Both Canada and Enbridge must significantly improve the opportunities for input and benefits that would accrue to first nations whose traditional territories will be crossed by the pipeline or tanker traffic. This principle should have, in our opinion, been guiding project discussions from the outset."
The implication being that neither Enbridge nor the federal government has treated first nations with sufficient respect.
Not surprisingly, as Polak noted during her comments to reporters, virtually every native representative who has spoken to date at the National Energy Board review of the project has been opposed. "I can't think of one first nation that supports it."
She stopped short of saying that individual bands have a veto over the project. In practical terms it amounts to the same thing: With this degree of opposition from first nations, the line could be tied up in blockades and court battles for a generation.
Major risk of spills. Inadequate resources to manage them. Natives so far offside as to be beyond retrieval. So from a B.C. point of view, what's to like about this project?
Not much, when it comes right down to it. The report says that in terms of economic and fiscal benefits, B.C. stands to reap about eight per cent of the projected increase in government revenues, and double that share in gross domestic product.
Those benefits would be spread over 30 years. On an annualized basis, figure maybe $200 million in additional revenues, $1.5 billion on the GDP.
All in exchange for assuming a significant share of the risk of a spill on land (58 per cent, based on the portion of the line that would run through B.C. territory) and fully 100 per cent of the risk of a spill in coastal waters.
For all that, the Liberals maintained that the province could be persuaded to "consider support" were there more resources to fight spills, a better deal for natives and more benefits to the provincial treasury.
But I doubt the Albertans, or the company, or the federal government will be inclined to put out to the degree necessary to satisfy the concerns raised in the report.
Realistically, the technical analysis amounts to a persuasive argument for opposing the Northern Gateway project. Reading it, I expect many British Columbians will say to their government, "What took you so long?"


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Though it may share some similarities with its Warhammer 40,000-inspired predecessor, Dawn of War II is a completely different game that offers one of the most action packed and highly replayable RTS experiences in recent memory. Relic has uprooted some of the genre's mainstays in a move that has proven to be as controversial amongst fans of the original as it is innovative. But the company's decision to stray from the norm has resulted in a unique and refreshing game that will not only keep RTS fans busy until StarCraft 2, but may even have them forgetting all about Blizzard's upcoming titan.
Much has changed in this second iteration of the franchise, but the core source material is the same. As with the original, Dawn of War II focuses on the unending battle between the factions of the beloved Warhammer 40,000 universe. The ever-vigilant Space Marines are in the midst of a war with the Orks and the Eldar, as the invading Tyranid, a feared locust race of immense power with a taste for galactic domination, enters the fray. The Tyranid are hell-bent on destroying the galaxy, and the locust forces clash with them in the on-going war. As a Space Marine leader, you are charged with the task of restoring the galaxy to order for the Alliance, as the various races vie for control and survival.
|Dawn of War II
|Relic Entertainment
With plentiful cut-scenes and a solid narrative, the campaign plays out in a manner similar to the system used for Dawn of War: Soulstorm. Players move through the non-linear campaign as they wish, choosing battles at their leisure, which consume days and move the overall story of the war forward. Battles can be taken and won or lost in many different ways, and the order and outcome of the battles ultimately influences the way the story plays out and how the game ends.
Moreover, everything you do in the campaign is tallied up for an overall campaign score, which further bolsters the game's replayability. Players must make various play decisions that affect the final score, such as deciding whether they want to take longer with the missions but complete all the extra objectives for a completion bonus, or rush through them for a time bonus. This non-linear system results in a highly-replayable campaign which, like Soulstorm before it, will greatly please fans of offline RTS play.?But that's not the only part of the game that fosters replayability.?
The player can also slowly upgrade his individual units with persistent rewards through the course of the game. Much like an RPG, enemies occasionally drop loot that's used to soup up your different units. Each unit has a number of different equipment slots that can be filled with different items, ranging from heavy-duty armor to new weapons, and even special accessories like grenades and turrets. Many of these drops are rare, meaning that two players will not necessarily find the same drops in a given play-through.
Further borrowing from the RPG genre, Dawn of War II throws a persistent experience point system into the mix as well. Leveling up individual units rewards skill points which can be used to fine-tune them in a number of different capacities. Dumping enough skill points into a given trait causes the unit to learn another special ability. For example, pumping points into melee weapons for the Assault Jumpers, a unit which specializes in melee attacks and uses jump-jets to get into the fray quickly, eventually unlocks the ability for that unit to suppress enemies, in addition to knocking them back when they jump into battle.
Together, these two additions make Dawn of War II a much more intimate RTS experience. The persistence from mission to mission makes the whole game more cohesive and unique for each player.?
The great strength of Dawn of War II is its ability to make individualized units seem important. Each squad that you procure is important to the overall battle. Rarely will you send units off to die as a distraction or what-have-you; rather, you'll be taking care of your units so that they level up and grow toward becoming destructive monsters, tailor-made to suit your play-style.
The focus on maintaining a squad and having your units work together over the course of the long battle is a welcome change. In a sense, every squad you create is a "hero" unit—a powerful unit that evolves over battle and has a number of extra abilities. Rather than moving toward a Warcraft 3 model, Relic has instead just made everyday, ordinary units powerful, impressive, and worth saving.
This unit-focused design agenda extends to the way the actual combat has been crafted, as well. Base-building and resource-gathering have both been removed completely, leaving the player to focus solely on moving and managing units. Though the campaign missions feature the same, familiar, objective-style levels you'd find in any RTS, such as defending a point or infiltrating an enemy stronghold, the action plays out without the mundane, macro-level play of most RTS games—the focus is exclusively on the action at the unit-versus-unit level. The result is an invigorating and wholly refreshing approach to RTS gameplay.


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The Internal Revenue Service today announced that interest rates will remain the same for the calendar quarter beginning July 1, 2016. The interest rates will remain at 4% for overpayments (3% in the case of a corporation) and underpayments, 6% for large corporate underpayments and 1.5% for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000. The interest rates are computed by using the federal short-term rate based on daily compounding determined during April 2016. The rate of interest is determined on a quarterly basis. (Rev. Rul. 2016-12, IR-2016-84, IRB 2016-26, June 6, 2016.)
The states of Alabama and South Carolina follow the federal underpayment rate. Pennsylvania follows the federal rate in effect as of January 1 of the calendar year, without regard to quarterly changes. Illinois follows the federal underpayment rate as of January 1 and July 1 of the calendar year. Additionally, Virginia's interest rate on tax underpayments is the federal interest rate plus 2%, while Arizona's is the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points.
Visit our News Library to read more news stories.


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"We need to have better national security and border security. We need to know who is coming across the border, why they are coming across illegally. We need to reduce the huge amount of drug smuggling and immigrant smuggling…. (and) reform of the 14th Amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants who are born in the U.S., is also an issue…"
Veteran Congressman will head influential House Judiciary Committee
1200 News Radio WOAI
By Jim Forsyth
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The San Antonio Congressman who is in line to become chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee is promising 'a number of investigations and oversight committee actions' which he vows will 'hold the administration accountable,' 1200 WOAI news reports.
Veteran Republican Lamar Smith, a Yale graduate and social conservative who grew up in the brush country of south Texas which is now transit point for illegal immigrants and drugs, said in a news conference that a number of issues will come into the sights of his committee when he takes the chairmanship in January, from cracking down on child pornography to taking the Obama Administration to task for failing to do enough to protect the southern border.
Smith says it is his Constitutional duty.
"Part of that checks and balances is in fact holding the administration accountable, is in fact insisting on more transparency, is insisting on more honesty, and getting the facts," Smith said. "Right now, because of the one party monopoly, the Administration has been able to dodge any kind of supervision, any kind of oversight committee action, and they refuse to testify, and that is no longer acceptable."
Smith, 63, says he says he has spoken to Speaker-designate John Boehner and has been told that he will move to the chairmanship of the committee. He has been ranking Republican on the committee for four years, and also headed the House Ethics Committee during the previous Republican majority.
Smith repeatedly attacked what he called the 'one party control' which has allowed the Administration and majority Democrats to ramrod their position on key issues like health care and border security through Congress.
"Right now, we've had one party control all aspects of our government, and the result of that is that the American people have only gotten one side of a lot of issues," he said.
One thing that Democrats openly expressed their concern about is the ability of Republicans like Smith, chairmen of key House committees, to use the Majority's subpoena power to compel testimony on a whole host of issues. Smith says their concerns were justified.
"There are going to be a number of investigations or oversight committee actions, trying to get to the facts," he promised.
Smith cited national security and the threat of terrorism will be a key area that the Judiciary Committee plans to take action quickly, and said border security, an issue always close to Smith's heart, will also take top billing.
"We need to have better national security and border security. We need to know who is coming across the border, why they are coming across illegally. We need to reduce the huge amount of drug smuggling and immigrant smuggling."
Smith said that reform of the 14th Amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants who are born in the U.S., is also an issue his committee may take up under his chairmanship. The 14th Amendment is a hot button issue for conservatives who call for restricting immigration.
He said adding 'meaningful' lawsuit reform will also be a top priority.
"I think we are going to be able to reform and amend the health care bill," he said. "We are not going to be able to repeal it, because the president would veto any repeal. But we can go back and make some changes and improvements. We need to reduce health care costs, and we need medical liability reform, and make sure we can stop the number of frivolous lawsuits."
Smith promised to 'use subpoena power if necessary' to 'call on Administration officials to get to the truth and get to the facts.'
See original here.


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How Diabetes Causes Nerve Disease
Topic Overview
The high blood sugar from diabetes affects the nerves and over time increases a person's risk for nerve damage. Keeping blood sugar levels within the target range recommended by your doctor helps prevent diabetic neuropathy.
- The most common type of nerve disease (neuropathy) affects both sensory nerves, which send information to the spinal cord and brain, and motor nerves, which relay impulses from the brain and spinal cord to move muscles. This is called diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
- Diabetes also affects the nerves that control involuntary body functions, such as digestion. This is called diabetic autonomic neuropathy.
- Diabetes can affect single nerves. This is called diabetic focal neuropathy.
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy
With peripheral neuropathy, people experience a decrease in sensation or even numbness as well as trouble moving the feet and, later on, the fingers and hands. As a result of this neuropathy, many people with diabetes can't feel when they have injured their feet, and they may not know if calluses or ulcers form. Because of the risk of serious foot injury and infection, it is very important that people with diabetes learn how to examine their feet daily, wear shoes that fit well, and protect their feet from injury.
Diabetic autonomic neuropathy
Diabetes can affect the autonomic nervous system, which are nerves that we can't consciously control. The autonomic nervous system controls many aspects of the body's functioning, such as heart rate and blood pressure, the workings of the gastrointestinal system, and sexual function.
- When the autonomic nerves regulating the heart and blood vessels are affected, a person's heart rate and blood pressure may go up and down abnormally or may not rise appropriately in response to a stimulus such as exercise. Sometimes, people who have diabetes can experience fainting spells because their blood pressure drops rapidly.
- The autonomic nerves affecting the gastrointestinal (GI) system control the way these organs contract and relax in order to move food along. When the nerves that cause the stomach to contract and move food are affected, it is called diabetic gastroparesis. Sometimes the effects on the GI system becomes so severe that a person has to be fed through a feeding tube placed in the small intestine, bypassing the stomach. When diabetes damages these nerves, a wide range of symptoms can result, including:
- A sensation of food getting stuck because of problems with how the esophagus contracts and relaxes.
- Nausea and vomiting because of problems with the stomach.
- Alternating constipation and diarrhea because of abnormal functioning of the large intestine.
- Occasionally, fecal incontinence.
- When the urinary system is affected, emptying of the bladder may be delayed or incomplete. This increases the chances of developing a urinary tract infection. Severely prolonged bladder emptying (urinary retention) can lead to urinary incontinence and, sometimes, fluid backup into the kidneys.
- When the nerves in the sexual organs are affected, sexual troubles develop. Diabetes can cause problems in the autonomic nerves that allow a man to achieve an erection and ejaculate. Women may experience vaginal dryness.
Diabetic focal neuropathy
Sometimes, single nerves can be affected by diabetes (focal neuropathy). These nerves may be peripheral, such as the nerves in the legs and arms, or cranial, such as the nerves that control eye movements.
When single nerves become affected, the result is weakness or paralysis of the muscles controlled by the nerves. Usually these motor nerve neuropathies resolve by themselves over a period of several months.


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When you create events on your calendar, it might be necessary for you to associate the event with other services too. Here are the services with which you can associate your events.
To associate with the services,
To view the details in the associated services,
Zoho Notes and Zoho Task can be viewed on a pop-up from within Zoho Calendar itself. Zoho Meeting and Zoho CRM open up as separate applications.


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Hi Everyone,
I recently received a notice from the Elgin Genealogical Society (EGS) in Elgin, IL announcing their 2014 Beginners' Workshop Series.
The Workshops for January 2014 to November 2014 occur on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 7 PM. There is no workshop for the month of December 2014.
The Workshops take place in the 1st floor Community Room of the Gail Borden Public Library located in Elgin, IL. All workshops start at 7 PM and are open to the public. The library is located at 270 N. Grove Avenue, Elgin, IL 60120.
The Elgin Genealogical Society notes that while the Workshop title implies it is for Beginners, all levels of genealogical researchers are welcome to attend.
Here is a link to the PDF file sent to me by the society that you can use for planning purposes. There is more information on the flyer for you to use regarding the society.
2014 Elgin Genealogical Society Beginners' Workshop Series
Speaker/tutor/mentor names will be provided to me by EGS when they become available. The topic names are provided.
The Elgin Genealogical Society also sent me a Press Release about the same subject. It is really the same information as the link above, but I also wanted to include it in this post.
2014 Elgin Genealogical Society Beginners Workshop Series Press Release
Take a look at the above information and consider attending some of these workshops whether you are an absolute beginner in genealogical research or you are a seasoned researcher! All are welcome!
Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library