Springfield (Ill.) State Journal-Register

UNDER CURRENT Illinois law, a 17-year-old charged with a misdemeanor is tried in adult court and, if found guilty, probably pays a fine. End of story.

Israel celebrates a milestone this month — its 60th anniversary. Sixty years ago, a people, who for centuries had been dispossessed, oppressed and had just come out of the Holocaust, declared independence and exercised their universal right to self-determination.

Most of the great problems we face are caused by politicians creating solutions to problems they created in the first place. Politicians and a large percentage of the public lose sight of the unavoidable fact that for every created benefit, there’s also a created cost or, as Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman put it, “There’s no free lunch.” While the person who receives the benefit might not pay or even be aware of the cost, but as sure as night follows day, there is a cost borne by someone. Let’s look at a couple of congressionally created problems.

On CNN, I got into a nasty little brawl with a man I admire. He’s a true Texan and a fellow practicing Catholic. The difference is he’s for Hillary Clinton, and I am trying desperately for the sake of the Democratic Party to maintain my neutrality. But when my old buddy Paul Begala suggested the coalition Clinton has generated is better than the one Obama has built, I got upset. Both are winning coalitions for the Democratic Party that must now, in the midst of an exciting election season, come together to begin to take on John McCain.

WASHINGTON — “A full-blooded American.”

That’s how 24-year-old Josh Fry of West Virginia described his preference for John McCain over Barack Obama. His feelings aren’t racist, he explained. He would just be more comfortable with “someone who is a full-blooded American as president.”

NO ONE in Illinois should have any faith whatsoever that Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his Department of Corrections reached their decision to close Pontiac’s prison with anything near objectivity. Our trust in this administration to do anything that is not politically motivated is zero.

WASHINGTON — When they say, “It’s not the money ...” — it’s the money!

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has responded to the recent rash of youth violence in Chicago by proposing a new $150 million initiative, which sounds good. Dubbed “Community Investment Works,” it would fund proven strategies for reducing youth violence, like after-school programs, and provide capital for rebuilding struggling neighborhoods. He estimates the initiative will create 20,000 new jobs for economically distressed communities.

When Cokie interviewed President Bush a few weeks ago, the talk turned to the issue of immigration. The president has a long history of reaching out to Hispanics and advocating a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, and he’s deeply frustrated that his proposals have died on Capitol Hill.

"I NEED a pay raise. I need a pay raise.”

In Baltimore, New York City and Atlanta, among other cities, school district administrators are paying kids cash for passing standardized tests. This strategy, in essence, allows underachieving children to sell their ability to perform well academically to the school system.

Oh, no, she didn’t.

Are you ready for hope and change? Barack Obama better hope his bitter half has a change of attitude if she expects to assume the title of first lady in November. She’s been likened to John F. Kennedy’s wife, what with her chic suits and pearls and perfectly coiffed helmet hair. But when she opens her mouth, Michelle O is less Jackie O and more Wendy W — as in Wendy Whiner, the constantly kvetching “Saturday Night Live” character from the early 1980s.

SUNFLOWER, Miss. — Joaquin Burse wants to go to Harvard and be a laser tech.