Stepping back into the Illinois state political bull-ring reluctantly, but it needs to be discussed.

By now, all of us, or those of us who care, have heard or seen what Governor Rauner is proposing for the new Illinois budget. Massive cuts in Medicaid, moving state pensions into a lower level than they've been, and, most important for NIU, big cuts in funding to the state's universities.

Shocking? Probably. A lot of people will be pissed off, but instead of being pissed off at the Governor, I'm more pissed off at the people who put the state in such a huge s***-hole to begin with. The state has dug itself a bigger and bigger s***-hole when it comes to the budget the last 20 years ever since Jim Edgar left office. That goes for Republicans and Democrats alike.

I give the Governor credit for at least being honest about the budget situation and not trying to pass it off as a small issue like others have done in the past. Doesn't mean I agree with everything he's proposing, but I give him props for not sugar-coating or bull-s***ting us.

This won't be the finished budget because at the moment the Governor doesn't have the legislative backing to pass it: I believe the Democrats have veto proof majorities in both houses of the General Assembly.

You'll hear the usual "I can't believe he's proposing this!" from the opposition, but if the Governor is smart, what he should do is say to the Democrats, "I'm willing to talk about this. Come up with a decent counter-proposal and new ideas for me.". It would be interesting to see what they come up with.

Lastly, I'm still not sorry to say I voted for the Governor last November. It sucks now, but I doubt Pat Quinn would've been as honest and up-front about it.

Let's see where this goes...