ATA Held Hostage - - - Week 6

The ATA is still being held hostage in the gun hate state. The Illinois comptroller has defined the situation as "Dire."



A hostage did escape the carnage. The SCTP Collegiate Championships will be held shortly at the Cardinal Center. This is not a registered shoot. It is expected to be a money maker for the CC and money out of the pocket of the IDNR. Fortunately there was a venue that could rescue this hostage on short notice.




The Kool Aid Drinker Anonymous meetings at Sparta (Sparta Group 18) are well protected.



911 funding is on hold in the area.

Another pitcher of Kool Aid was recently served by Gipson, whom loses credibility every time he talks about the ice bergs that don't exist.

Where are the ATA delegates?

 

As the weeks pass the dollies get better and better even if the news gets worse and worse. Kermit is way too smart to be an EC VP. I've heard no real news from my spies other than a highly named source says there will be no grand in sparta next year. It's not highly enough of source to bet on, but he is plenty good for the rumor mill. On another note I took a phone order for 500 + Extra Large and 150 + double Extra Large t shirts from the PA - Ohio border area, Not Joe either. I still need a Vendor in the Sparta, East St Louis area that can pass a credit check, must be mostly skeet shooters in those places.

I hope Family Guy has plenty more dollies to choose from as the weeks turn into months. Brad

 

News: From State Journal Register, IL...Closing of Southern IL Complex a Head Scratcher.

One of the canceled shooting events is the national tournament for college students in the Scholastic Clay Target Program, which operates under the auspices of the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation. The foundation uses a combination of education and athletics in the form of team-based shooting tournaments to teach safe firearm handling, teamwork and leadership.

The collegiate competition, scheduled for mid-October, would have brought 900 participants to Sparta to compete in trapshooting, skeet and sporting clays. "Right now, the state has basically trampled on our youth program, shooters in general as well as the people down there," said Dave Phillips of Jerseyville, state director of the target shooting program.

'Can't trust the state'

Barnes coaches a youth target shooting team of 46, the Carlinville Clay Busters, that won 10 state awards and 11 national awards this year at earlier shoots held at the Sparta complex, which hosts about 80 shooting events each year.

The collegiate shoot is being moved to a facility north of Columbus, Ohio, after being put in scramble mode by the Sparta facility's closing. "They're estimating that half of the 900 entrants won't go to Ohio," Barnes said. "They can't afford to travel that far. "The national tournament for shooters in fifth grade through high school was held in Sparta in August, and Barnes said he took all 46 team members to the earlier state shoot. But if the competitions are held next year in San Antonio or Ohio, he said he'll have to rethink that approach.

"They're under contract to be held in Sparta for next year, too, but they will jerk those and go to either Ohio or Texas," he said. "They figure you can't trust the state." Phillips said the state has until Jan. 1 to make up its mind if it will honor the contract and reopen the Sparta complex. "They're going to lose a lot if the don't react by Jan. 1," he said. "All they're going to have is a weed patch down there."

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20151004/NEWS/151009819

 

http://www.rebootillinois.com/2015/...r-but-he-cant-do-anything-without-them/46791/

Rauner, Democrats need to face reality of inertia in Capitol
The Illinois Senate had been scheduled to return to Springfield on October 6th after not being in session since September 9th. But last week, the Senate President postponed session until October 20th.
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http://www.rebootillinois.com/2015/...ois-budget-deadlock-on-chicago-tonight/46591/

“This governor was elected on a platform of change… he is continuing to pursue some fundamental changes to Illinois that he and Republicans believe are necessary in order not just to have a short-term budget, but long-term economic health in this state,” Radogno added.

When asked if Rauner and Madigan actually want to reach an agreement over the budget, Cullerton, D-Chicago, said Rauner’s requests are “too extreme” and “too far to the right,” and that the governor’s reforms go against the principles of Democrats in the General Assembly.
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http://www.rebootillinois.com/2015/...uld-apply-to-bruce-rauner-mike-madigan/46478/

As things stand now, it’s conceivable that we’ll ring in New Year’s Day 2016 with unpaid bills on the order of $8.5 billion, according to Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger’s estimate. That will leave six months in the budget year to pay off the debt unless Rauner wants to follow his predecessors’ examples and push those bills into next year or borrow to pay them down.
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http://www.rebootillinois.com/2015/...l-talking-but-they-need-to-take-action/46810/

Bruce Rauner on Dems: We’re still talking, but they need to take action

The good news: Gov. Bruce Rauner and his Democratic counterparts — House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton — have met recently to discuss the state budget impasse.

End of good news.

On Friday, at a press conference following Rauner’s appearance at the dedication of the Chez Family Foundation Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, Rauner said he had an “ongoing dialogue” with Madigan, Cullerton and General Assembly rank-and-file about the budget.

“I am meeting… very recently with the leaders. We’ve had ongoing dialogue. What I’ve learned… is talking about our meetings or talking about what’s discussed or who met with whom when ends up being counter-productive. So I apologize. I don’t talk about it much, I’m not going to say much about it now,” Rauner said. “Conversations have been ongoing. I’m encouraging them very strongly. And they’re encouraging between myself and the leaders, myself and the members of the General Assembly as well as members who are Republicans and Democrats who are meeting regularly in the Legislature talking about the issues, they’re trying to move this forward.”

Cullerton’s spokeswoman, Rikeesha Phelon, said Rauner and Cullerton met last week. Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said Madigan and Rauner spoke on Sept. 21.

Rauner needn’t have worried about divulging sensitive information on the nature of the talks. His remarks earlier made clear that both sides remain exactly where they’ve been for the last three months.

“They need to either raise taxes – I won’t support their raising taxes but they have a super-majority to do it without me. They should go do that or, if they don’t want to do that, I will work them to raise taxes, we’ll get a balanced budget but I want to see us have reforms so we don’t chase our tails down, chase businesses out of the state, hurt homeowners and continue the decline of competitiveness that we’ve had in Illinois without reforms. We need reforms if we’re going to increase taxes. If we don’t get reforms then they should raise taxes themselves,” Rauner said.

The reforms Rauner wants — term limits, legislative redistricting reform and a long-term property tax freeze are “very politically popular,” Rauner said.

“Let’s do those things. Or if they don’t want to do them, OK, but then they should pass a balanced budget, not one that has a $5 billion hole,” Rauner said.

Rauner’s appearance on the U of I campus coincided with his receipt of a letter signed by the presidents of Illinois’ nine public universities pleading for an end to the budget standoff. The letter went to Rauner, Madigan, Cullerton and the Republican leaders of the General Assembly, Rep. Jim Durkin, R-Western Springfield, and Sen. Christine Radogno, R-Lemont.

“Requiring the public universities to operate without a budget appropriation is unsustainable. The uncertainty of not knowing when, or at what level, appropriations will be forthcoming is resulting in some students and faculty questioning whether Illinois is the best place to learn or to teach,” the letter read in part.

University of Illinois President Timothy Killeen was among the signatories and also was with Rauner on Friday at the dedication ceremony. Did he and Rauner discuss the letter and the precarious situation of the state universities?

“President Killeen and I have had a number of conversations about both the budget as well as other issues for the university. I’m a strong advocate for the University of Illinois. It’s one of the greatest institutions in the world,” Rauner said. “I am committed personally to supporting the university every way I can. I have made it clear to the president that I am very unhappy that we do not have a budget. It’s outrageous. There’s no reason for… this to be dragged on so long.”

Not mentioned was Rauner’s original budget proposal, in which direct appropriations to the state’s nine public universities were cut from $1.23 billion to $842.2 million. (Rauner’s budget is here. Specifics on higher education funding are at chapter 2, page 37.) The Democrats’ budget, almost all of which Rauner vetoed, contained a 6.5 percent cut to higher education overall, compared to Rauner’s 31.5 percent.

Democrats have criticized Rauner for rejecting all of their budget except a single bill that funded P-12 education. They say Rauner could have avoided cuts to higher education, human services and facilities like the now-shuttered Illinois State Museum if he had used his amendatory veto power to change their budget bills as he saw fit.

Rauner consistently has said he won’t discuss the budget until reforms are in place.

“I am very unhappy that we don’t have the money for child care right now. I don’t want to cut child care. I don’t want to cut back on many of the services that are suffering right now,” Rauner said. “I certainly don’t want to close the state museum. I love it, living in Springfield, that’s a great institution.

“We’re having to do things that I don’t want to do but we don’t have a budget. And we are doing our darnedest to manage with a real cash crisis. And that’s why I’m calling on the Legislature: Take action. Stop waiting. They’re not even meeting right now. They are on business as usual. We’re in a crisis. Let’s decide this now.”

The House and Senate are scheduled to next be in session on Oct. 20.

 

Do trap shooters need welfare?

Is it more important than child care?