Many of the Fermilab community who volunteer for John Laesch for Congress contacted our office On Tuesday, Dec. 18, to alert us of the devastating cuts to high energy physics that came in the House Omnibus Appropriations bill that was passed on Monday, Dec. 17, 2007.

They were rightly concerned because the bill slashes $90 million in funding for High Energy Physicis projects, including $62 million at Fermi National Laboratory (located in IL-14). You can get details by reading Fermilab's internal newsletter, Fermilab Today.

The $555 billion bill gives George Bush another blank check worth $70 Billion to continue the occupation of Iraq.  Sadly, there was no accountability or a specific timetable attached to the additional Iraq occupation funding.

I guess lawmakers will be returning to their districts this Christmas break with lots of pork while our soldiers serving in Iraq are enjoying sand and MRE's.  

A positive step in the immigration debate surrounding Illinois' 14th Congressional District took place at a press conference held by Democratic candidate John Laesch on Tuesday morning outside the World Relief Immigration Services office in downtown Aurora. Laesch gave a speech calling on Republican candidate Jim Oberweis to take back his anti-immigrant and pro-national ID card message portrayed in a series of mailings and TV ads recently sent out to district voters.  "The idea behind this advertising campaign is to make people so afraid of immigrants that they are willing to cede their civil liberties, the right to privacy and allow for a big-brother solution like a national ID card," said Laesch.

John wrote his own blog on this issue at Fireside 14. He pointed out that  the last four soldiers from this district to lose their life while serving our country were all of Hispanic heritage. http://www.fireside14.com/showDiary.do?d iaryId=228

Tonight I wanted to post my "Why Fighting Dems can Win" piece, but George Bush decided to come to town.

With poll numbers still below 50%, the President has decided to step out of the White House and start listening to constituents.  Did I say constituents?  I meant other Republican candidates like Gubernatorial candidate, Judy Baar-Topinka (R-IL).

Bush's PR team is spinning into high gear and launched a "Smoke & Mirrors Tour." Lynn Sweet with the Chicago Sun Times writes a pretty good story.

Out here in Illinois' second largest city, Aurora, I decided to hold a "Democratic Response to President Bush's Smoke & Mirror Tour" outside of Cabot Microelectronics Corp.

Photos and Podcast in diary...

Hello Blogosphere,

We took Mr. Hastert to task here in Illinois to let voters know that he is tied to Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and the casino business.

Yesterday, Friday, May 26, 2006, we held two press conferences; one in front of Hastert's office in Batavia, IL and one in front of the Sycamore Court House.  We let voters know that Dennis Hastert is one of the ringleaders in the culture of corruption in Washington and we asked people to vote Democratic on Nov. 7, 2006!

As the ongoing battle between Bush and Hastert continues, we will continue to remind voters that Dennis Hastert SHOULD be investigated for using his power as Speaker to control competition between rival casinos. Regardless of whether or not he is under investigation, he should be under investigation!

Read on to see how "Denny" responded...

I am John Laesch, the Democratic candidate who is running against the Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.  Many of you may or may not know that my brother is currently stationed in Iraq and is home for a short period of leave.

Mr. Pete (to hide his rank and job) had lots of information and pictures to share with two audiences in Illinois'

14th District.  He has been categorizing "tank graffiti" that is left by soldiers in Iraq - to set the tone, let's

start with this one:

This was posted on DailyKos and IllinoisDemNet and you can see more pictures and read more...

Recently, AnthonySF Blogged about Hastert's Vehicle switcheroo after he mislead America into believing that he is going to do something about the energy crisis in America.

Today, I blasted Hastert on his PR Stunt and let voters know that he is a lock-step voter with big oil and gas

companies that have contributed over $300K to his congressional campaign committee.





Today was a beautiful sunny day, here, in Illinois' 14th district, and I (if you don't know me yet, I am the Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress who is running against the Speaker of the House).  We rode in a biodiesel-fueled Jeep Liberty CRD and held four press conferences with representatives from Chicago Biodiesel and the Vineyard Family.  The Vineyards own a Jeep Libert CRD.

Oh yeah... I will be on the air with Al Franken Show tomorrow, May 8, in Chicago at 12:27 p.m.  Tune into WCPT, AM 850 to hear more!

Read more about the tour...

I am John Laesch, the Democratic Candidate running against Dennis Hastert in Illinois' 14th District.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a speech by the Saudi Ambassador to America, Prince Turki al-Faisal, in Chicago.  The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club hosted the luncheon on April 20, 2006; the visit follows an April 19th visit by Condi Rice.

The presentation seems to be part of a PR move by the Saudi's to improve their image and send a subtle message to President Bush.  

I was surprised at how candid Turki was with the mixed audience.  His message on Iraq and Iran was a positive one.  When answering a question about Iraq, Turki responded:

"Since America came uninvited, they should leave uninvited."

bumped - Matt

My name is John Laesch, I am the Democratic Candidate running against Dennis Hastert in Illinois' 14th District.

I served our country as an intelligence analyst in the Middle East for most of my military career and I have a good understanding of Iran's ability to close the Straights of Hormuz and hamper the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf.

I have presented several alternatives to nuclear war and i want to hear what the BLOG community thinks. ** Cross-posted on DailyKos. This is my first posting on Mydd.com