Seeing if a checkbox is checked by default
===

I have a javascript function that sets a variable everytime a checkbox is clicked:

          function handleClick(cb) {
             alert('entered function');
              setTimeout(function () {

            if (cb.checked ) {
                   $("#IsChecked").val('true');
               }
                else
                   $("#IsChecked").val('false');

            alert('now my value is: '+ $("#IsChecked").val());
           }, 0);
       }

Heres my checkbox:

      <input id="MyCheckBox" type="checkbox" value="true" onclick="handleClick(this);" 
      name="MyCheckBox" checked="checked">

This works great everytime the checkbox is checked. But now i need to know if the checkbox is checked when the user clicks a button and has never touched the checkbox before. So i do this:

       $(document).ready(function () {
        $("#IsChecked").val('default');

        $('#btnCheck').click(function (e) {
            var isComplete = $("#IsChecked").val();
            if (isComplete == 'default') {
                var cb = $('#MyCheckBox');
                handleClick(cb);
             alert('after handleClick ischecked is: ' + $("#IsChecked").val());
             }
         });
});

When i click my button and the checkbox is checked by default, i get these alerts in this order:

     entered function
     after handleClick ischecked is: default
     now my value is: false

If i check the checkbox to toggle it, i get these alerts as expected:

     entered function
     now my value is: false

In my handleClick event, the setTimeout is there because of IE so i cant get rid of it. How can i check to see if a checkbox is checked without having to click the checkbox itself? Thanks
     