Governor Pat Quinn is Doing a Great Job

As a resident of Illinois, I can tell you that Governor Pat Quinn is doing a great job. I couldn't be happier that we elected him, albeit by a small margin, rather than the Republican buffoon who ran against him. Unlike the Republicans who harp on the budget deficit without ever doing anything that would actually solve the problem, Quinn started working on fixing the budget the moment he got elected. We have seen the results of his hard work already: the state of Illinois repaid the entire amount that it owed our university. Had a Republican been elected as Governor of Illinois, we wouldn't have seen a dime of that money as the Republicans warned us before the election.

Quinn supports our new healthcare law, which shows that he is an intelligent, progressive person. He is adamant in his defense of a woman's right to be in control of her own uterus. He supports gay marriage and is in favor of enacting gun control legislation. Recently, he has demonstrated that, unlike the majority of American politicians, he is not afraid of antagonizing a huge corporation if that's what it takes to protect the interests of our state. 

Those who have been brainwashed by the Tea Party into believing that the government is always bad and the corporations are always good are trying to crucify Governor Quinn for his brave and intelligent decision to show Amazon that it is not above the law. Middle-of-the-road folks who are so spineless that they can't just pick a side already and stick to it screech that Quinn's new piece of legislation (the one that will force Amazon to pay taxes in Illinois) will be impossible to enforce. "Things are the way they are, nothing will ever change," they keep screeching. This defeatist attitude to life is not shared by Quinn and his supporters. We might not matter individually, but together we can achieve a lot. 

Don't Buy Into Amazon's Political Scam! Termination of Amazon Affiliates Program

If you are part of Amazon's Associates Program, you might have received the following e-mail recently:

Greetings from the Amazon Associates Program:

We regret to inform you that the Illinois state legislature has passed an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, if signed by Governor Quinn, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Illinois-based Associates. You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. If our records are incorrect, you can manage the details of your Associates account here.

Please note that this not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Amazon Associates Program. But if the governor signs this bill, we will need to terminate the participation of all Illinois residents in the Associates Program. After that point, we will no longer pay any advertising fees for sales referred to amazon.com, endless.com and smallparts.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Illinois residents.
The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on Illinois residents like you were explained to the legislature, including Senate and House leadership, as well as to the governor's staff.

Over a dozen other states have considered essentially identical legislation but have rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states' residents.

Governor Quinn's office may be reached here.

We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you continued success in the future.

Sincerely,

Amazon.com

Now, what's really happening is the following. The state of Illinois (where I happen to live) is broke. Governor Quinn is trying to cover our enormous budget deficits through measures he had announced in his election campaign. One of such measures is removing the unfair advantage on-line retailers have over other sellers and making them pay sales tax, just like everybody else:

Illinois lawmakers have passed what's been dubbed the "Amazon tax." It's not a new tax; it's just a way to collect money that's already due the state. The legislation forces online retailers like Amazon and overstock.com to collect the state's six and a quarter percent sales tax on purchases. Smaller businesses support the measure, saying online retailers who don't collect the state sales have an advantage over them. The legislation now goes to the Governor's desk for approval.

Here is more on this new tax and how it's supposed to work:

The law would require Internet retailers that sell through affiliates in Illinois, and which sell at least $10,000 each year to Illinois residents, to collect the taxes, says a spokesman for state Senate president John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat backing the bill. “The bill treats online merchants more like bricks-and-mortar merchants,” the spokesman says. “The retailer would be responsible for collecting the tax.” He notes that the bill covers only online retailers that have affiliates in Illinois in an effort to satisfy a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says only web merchants that have a presence within a given state must collect taxes there. The spokesman could give no estimate about how much Illinois might collect from such a tax, but, previously, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue told Internet Retailer the state could recoup $150 million annually from the use tax.

Now the Amazon is trying to manipulate members of its Associates program to apply political pressure on the Governor. The company doesn't give a rat's ass whether this state goes completely bankrupt, whether its schools close and the roads crumble down. Amazon doesn't believe that it has to pay taxes just like everybody else. Let's not let this company manipulate us into undermining our own state! In the 1,5 years that I have lived in Illinois, I have come to love this great state. I want to see it prosper and flourish. And if Amazon doesn't care about the residents of this state, we should.

I am a member of Amazon Associates program. Obviously, I don't want to be denied access to the program. However, I realize that there are more important things at stake here. I will be writing a letter to Governor Quinn today, urging him to pass this legislation and expressing my support for his efforts to cover the deficit through these practical measures. Friends, don't let Amazon manipulate you! The citizens of Illinois have spoken and elected Governor Quinn. Now we should let him do his job. And Amazon can go kill itself against a wall, as we say in my culture. If they want to lose all the profit its Illinois Associates bring them just because they are too greedy to pay a sales tax, so be it.

Governor Race in Illinois

The morning after the elections, we still don't know who will be our Governor. When 99% percent of votes were counted, Pat Quinn (D) still had a 0.3% lead over Bill Brady (R). It is incomprehensible for me what kind of a clueless individual could possibly vote for Brady. The guy is a crazy religious fanatic who believes that abortion should be banned in cases of rape an incest. He is scarily homophobic. He also wants creationism to be taught in schools instead  of or alongside evolution. He is also completely dishonest. Every single time when he was asked during the race how he was going to deal with the state's huge budget deficit, he avoided giving a direct answer. Pat Quinn at least was honest. He said that taxes would need to be raised, even though he realized it was a very unpopular answer that would cost him many votes. Brady, however, couldn't force himself to be equally honest (he's a Republican and hoping to get a straight answer about something from these people is hopeless.) He talked vaguely about "fiscal responsibility" and "cuts," but as hard as people tried to get him to specify what exactly he was going to cut, he never did.

The State of Illinois owes a huge amount of money to my university. We have been dealing with the issue bravely for the past two years. With Pat Quinn as our Governor, we can at least hope that Illinois will remember its obligations to us and honor them. With Brady, we can say good-bye to our funding and let the university be destroyed. Republicans hate public education. Actually, they hate any kind of education because they need the voters to be as ignorant as possible. Last night, I listened to Rand Paul's celebratory seat after his Senate victory. You have to be completely illiterate and painfully stupid not to see that every single word of that speech was completely insane. Republicans are counting on all those brainwashed voters who have never opened a book or read a newspaper to vote for them. No reasonable individual could support freaks like Bill Brady, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, and Co.

Today, the Republicans are celebrating their huge win in the House. We will all end up paying dearly for this win. I still hope, though, that at least the Governor of my state will turn out to be the marginally reasonable Pat Quinn and not a religious fanatic, a liar, and a thief, such as Bill Brady.

Moving to Illinois

So I have to move to Southern Illinois for work in a month. And these are the latest news from Illinois: "A federal appeals court in Chicago on Tuesday breathed new life into a long-dormant Illinois law that requires physicians to notify the parents of teenage girls before performing abortions. . . The appeals court described the measure as "a permissible attempt to help a young woman make an informed choice about whether to have an abortion."The law does not require parental consent, only that parents be notified 48 hours before an abortion for a girl 17 or younger." I mean, of all the disgusting, ridiculous, paternalistic, outrageously condescending things I have heard recently, this is definitely the worst. A woman's body belongs to her parents. Like she is a cow. Or a family dog. In any case, she is so brainless that she needs to be "helped" to make an informed choice. About her owwn body.

All enthusiasm that I had about moving to Illinois just evaporated completely. And don't even start me on what's happening with abortion laws in Arizona. Compared to Arizona, Illinois is a progressive haven.

Why are there still so many woman-haters around? Why are there so many people who would want to destroy the lives of young women they don't even know? Why do we allow these disgusting freaks of nature to call themselves "pro-life", if all they are is anti-life, anti-choice, anti-reason, anti-enlightenment, anti-simple-human-compassion?

When I imagine a 17-year-old woman in Illinois, who finds herself pregnant and terrified, and who cannot receive a medical service she is guaranteed by law without informing her parents, I feel angry beyond belief. I have a suggestion: to make things more fair, let's introduce a law forcing any man who seeks a Viagra prescription to notify his neighbors. Then we will see how fast these lawmakers will appreciate what it feels like to involve other people in the most intimate matters concerning your body.