The pride of Illinois

I just read, in BOTWT, the list of "no" votes on the proposal in Congress to formally object to the naming of a street in la Fwance after a convicted cop-killer.

It makes me so proud to see so many names from my great and law-abiding state (I have marked them in bold text so everybody can see):

Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii)
William Clay (Mo.)
Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.)
John Conyers (Mich.)
Jim Cooper (Tenn.)
Danny Davis (Ill.)
Raul Grijalva (Ariz.)
Maurice Hinchey (N.Y.)
Mike Honda (Calif.)
Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas)
Carolyn Kilpatrick (Mich.)
Barbara Lee (Calif.)
Cynthia McKinney (Ga.)
Gregory Meeks (N.Y.)
Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.)
James Oberstar (Minn.)
Major Owens (N.Y.)
Ed Pastor (Ariz.)
Donald Payne (N.J.)
Charles Rangel (N.Y.)
Bobby Rush (Ill.)
Robert Scott (Va.)
Jose Serrano (N.Y.)
Fortney Hillman Stark Jr. (Calif.)
Edolphus Towns (N.Y.)
Mark Udall (Colo.) Tom Udall (N.M.)*
Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.)
Maxine Waters (Calif.)
Anthony Weiner (N.Y.)
Lynn Woolsey (Calif.)

The "present" votes came from Sam Farr (Calif.), Al Green (Texas), Luis Gutierrez (Ill.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (Texas), John Lewis (Ga.), George Miller (Calif.), Janice Schakowsky (Ill.) and Melvin Watt (N.C.).

As James Taranto points out, there is a marked absence of Pennsylvanians among the "no" voters. Maybe their having been from the state in which it happened has caused them to lose perspective. After all, it's not as though the Fwench were promoting a murderer of an American hero as a hero himself...

oh.

wait.

I can hold my head up and say proudly that these people speak for all in Illinois who think it's the bee's knees to canonize a man for shooting a defender of the peace. Good going, guys! Now everybody can figure out where you all stand on enforcing the laws you swear to uphold.

I'll pass this news on to my buddies in blue. They'll get as much of a kick out of it as I did.



*James Taranto makes his correction in Friday's BOTWT, under "Homer Nods"