Is Illinois the worst state? Eleven states have welfare recipients in excess of tax-paying citizens. The top three are California, New York and Illinois. Our unemployment rate hovers at 15 percent and Illinois is not recommended for retirement.

In my lifetime four Illinois governors have been incarcerated as felons. U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He is facing probation or up to five years in the federal penitentiary. He will get probation, move to Washington, D.C., and run for mayor.

Our judiciary is questionable. The gun felon in Chicago shoots an innocent child. He had no FOID card and had pointed a gun at a police officer. He was, according to gun laws, supposed to do a year in jail on each charge. The liberal judge gave him probation. He is a part of the estimated 125,000 gang-bangers in Chicago.

Locally my aging mother attempted to get some use out of the car her deceased husband left her but her daughter snuck off with. The daughter scammed the 85-year-old widow and placed her name on the title with her mother. The political hack judge ruled that she doesn't have a driver's license, so she doesn't need a car -- a complete opposite ruling to the state statute.

Good-bye, Illinois and your corrupt government.

James Lawson Price

Fairview Heights