As any parent in District 61 (Darien, Illinois) can attest, during the period leading up to the last election, children's folders and backpacks were a bit heavier and full of paper. More schoolwork? Latest standardized testing scores?

HARDLY!

It was a poorly executed propaganda campaign perpetrated by Chip Johnson and the many would-be recipients of yet another school tax referendum.

District 61 Money-For-Education hacks ignored the two previous failed referendum attempts, figuring that voters would just get sick of seeing it on the ballot, and agree to pour millions of dollars into the District. Chip and Company effectively "leafleted" the region by pouring what had to be thousands of dollars into flyers sent home with kids in the months before the ballot.

What were the results of the veiled threats of program cuts and a teacher exodus?

Residents of District 61 rejected the tax measure by a margin of 2 to 1, with 63 percent of residents voting it down. (Click here for DuPage County measure results http://tinyurl.com/yv5vx4 )

Well what would any good,  bureaucrat do, faced with two failures? WHY throw the measure BACK on the ballot for a third try. Heck, if you don't succeed in bamboozling residents with scare tactics, try try try again!

The D61 website, paid for with taxpayer funds, ballyhoos the looming disasters of failing to give them the buckets-o-money they claim they need. ( http://tinyurl.com/2xt9r5 )

"This referendum is necessary because the November 7th, 2006 referendum
was defeated and District #61 is still in need of funds to meet expenditures,
balance the budget, and support school programs."

Huh? Balance the budget? In my house if we need to "balance the budget" it doesn't mean I head to the local street corner and beg for more money. It means that I need to make more effective use of the money I already earn. The answer is not more money. And the new referendum is needed because the old one was defeated. Sounds like the school board needs to head back to the School of Common Sense.

Here is my message to the poltroons at District 61:

• Welcome to DuPage County, last bastion of Republicans in Northeastern Illinois. In case you hadn't noticed, we Republicans have always stood against higher taxes.
• The first two referendums were not rejected for lack of knowledge. More leaflets and websites won't change the outcome. We are already taxed to the brink in the Land of Lincoln, and we won't stand for any further increases.
• Arrogance sucks - try acting as arrogant in your social circles as you do with the voters. I highly suspect, with the slew of new candidates running against the school board members, that you will be losing friends about as fast as you will be losing your seat on the board.
• Last time anyone with a brain checked, throwing money at a problem never fixed it. First try and tell us WHY you are running a deficit. If you can't answer that basic question, and tell us who decided to spend more than you had, don't expect us to trust you with more money.

Lastly, try focusing on education. Spend less time taking our kids out for "Earth Day" cleanups in forest preserves and more on the American Revolution, math, and fingerpaints. Don't have my kids coming home spewing nonsense about cars being bad, and that it would be better if we had horses.

It seems if we have enough horse byproduct coming out of District 61 as it is.....

Again, as I drive a great deal for my real job, I see and observe a lot. Perhaps it is the tedium, or the fact I should have been on some form of ADD medication, but I notice these little oddities.

Why is it I have to call my local Walmart to remind them every time the US Flag should be flying at half staff? Six US presidents could die, and Old Glory would be all the way up to the finial. On my last inspection tour at the Darien Walmart, the first thing I see when I walk are newspapers stands.....hmmm.....news of significant loss prompting lowering of the flag MIGHT be found there....

As I head past the checkout aisles, I notice that there are People and Us magazines....as trite and empty as they are, they still at least have news a week old. And considering no one knows WHEN to raise the flag back to full, they could still lower theirs and appear as compliant.

Ahhh...my target...electronics! Hey wait....TV's and radios! Perhaps some enlightenment could be found here!

After the death of Gerald Ford, I was in Milwaukee and driving past the local American TV and Appliance Store.....AMERICAN TV and Appliance.....and guess where their flag was? Yep....full mast as well.

Not to mention the time I had to call yet another big box store, and inform them that their American flag was now comprised of shreds of two stripes and a field of stars that looked more like a Nova special on black holes.

My message? Shame on you....I believe one of the first duties of any American, and any American business, is to properly display Old Glory. Any local VFW chapter would gladly assist you in proper display, and many even offer ceremonial disposal of the Red, White and Blue should she fall into disrepair.

Selling items with the label "Proudly Made in the USA" is not enough....try taking care of the flag under whose protection you can make your profits.

Anyone who lives in Chicago or the Western Burbs as I do, have no doubt encountered the conspicuity vest wearing "beggars" who flock to cars with handfuls of tootsie rolls, leaflets, and money receptacles, trumpeting their cause, darting quickly out of traffic as the light turns green.

I for one am torn....while many of these charities are quite worthwhile (Knights of Columbus, Kiwanians, etc) many are from organizations with no local roots. I see flocks of young employment age men on my local corners during the weekday, during normal business hours, with what seems to be about a metric ton of peanut M&M's as bait for the soccer mom with cash to spare. "The Nameless, You'll Barely Remember, Christian School for Unknown Boys and Girls of the Greater Somewhere Metropolitan Conference."

HUH?

Why aren't these people working?

OR ARE they?

Are these even real charities? I feel as if I might be giving my quarter to the wrong organization, much like the hapless Senior who asks for the Cancer Society of America, rather than the American Cancer Society when dialing 411.

So I try and avoid eye contact with the charities with questionable lineage. The well trained and out of work bill collector types stand at my window and talk to me through closed glass, even as I feign a phone conversation or belt out a Shania Twin tune in my best falsetto.

I fear that they will one day push the "Bubble Off Plumb" crowd too far, tempting the poor sucker whose wife just left him as he lost his job because he had to take his dying dog to the vet to use them as two legged orange targets. I confess I think it would make a great skit for one of many comedy shows on cable.....

A bigger question is what these moronic municipalities are THINKING allowing these goofs in the middle of the street.

I called my local PD, and the response I got was "Well, they have permits and they are wearing orange vests."

Yeah! But let me try and put a few fall leaves in the street by the curb and they're paging out the SWAT team. Lord help me if I try and burn a few.....

Barak Obama to give up Marlboro's.....or are they Newps? In any event, it is clear that the campaign managers are in full swing, looking to improve images and make the candidates stand out amongst the slew of Dems who seek to capture a return address of 1600 Pennsylvania avenue.

But as we in Illinois know, the Obama name is not synonymous with any sort of achievement or credit worthy bill. By all accounts, Obama was perhaps the "stealth" state Senator. Ask people at a Metra station to name one single accomplishment when Obama was in the State House....all you will get are blank stares. Perhaps Obama was hiding in Chicago with Blagojevich, who also is a rarely seen item in Springfield.

So what can Obama do to appear the front runner? Opening his mouth will not be the vehicle by which he gets elected. His speech at the DNC Winter Conference did nothing to make him stand out, but rather painted him into the same corner with Hillary and her ilk. Spewing anti-war rhetoric he painted with the same brush and the same color paint as the ultra lefties.

While even some Conservatives apply the "likeable" moniker to Obama, he has nothing to offer. He can strut around claiming phantom accomplishments, usually bills that he did not author, and appearing only as a signatory, but no originality.

I predict in six months or less liberal America will be loboto-obama-mized and ready to move to the far left agenda as chanted by Reid, Clinton, Kennedy, et. al..

Enjoy the ride now Barak...the bus stops well before Iowa and I doubt you will be there for the next stop.