By One Who Values You on December 19, 2008 8:42 AM
God will you people stop! If you want to have a conversation of 2...exchange emails & go at it but leave all of us out of it!

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Rather than ordering people where to go, why don't you skip the posts you don't like. Some of us enjoy a good debate between 2 bloggers.

Maybe you oughta be reading a book instead of being on this blog site since you like to be left alone......a blog site is not a book where you have the peace and quiet that you seem to desire.

God will you people stop! If you want to have a conversation of 2...exchange emails & go at it but leave all of us out of it!

Anyone else tired of it yet? Nice use of bold to *TALK OUT LOUD* You have been chaaaa-luuunged on the other blog. By the way, you didn't post any proverbs anywhere, whatchutalkin' about willis?

By Mary Poppins on December 18, 2008 9:29 AM
"I am glad you chose not to debate me. I think you realized very quickly we were not in the same league."

Actually, I chose not to debate you out of respect for host Chris and the blog and the topic at hand. You shouldn't flatter yourself otherwise.

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My Dearest Mary Poppins,

That is a very lame excuse. Host Chris has given you the green light to debate me on another thread called Whatcha Wanna Talk About.

I think the real reason is you are not a Muslim girl and you know nothing about Islam. You have no clue what the proverbs I was posting even said.

You once challenged me. I took you up on your challenge. You are now simply CHICKENING OUT LIKE A PUSSY CAT because you are lacking......in whatever!!!

Chris and Anon, I find it kind of disturbing that I haven't even posted on this thread in a while, much less attacked anyone, yet you both feel the need to single me out. What's up with that?

"I am glad you chose not to debate me. I think you realized very quickly we were not in the same league."

Actually, I chose not to debate you out of respect for host Chris and the blog and the topic at hand. You shouldn't flatter yourself otherwise.

Host Chris,

Any chance you can take all of the verbose tit for tat postings that have nothing to do with Blago and move them to another thread so everyone else doesn't have to wade through the posts.

Ken has some good points, but would be far more effective if he stopped attacking people and stuck to the topics.

Thanks!

Anon --

We shouldn't hold our breathe waiting for Durbin to suddenly decide to be honest. If he were truly honest, he would have announced he wanted former Gov Ryan pardoned before the election, not after.

T.B.

I do sometimes attack people after they attack me so it may appear I am equally guilty. I THINK YOU SHOULD NIP IT IN THE BUTT WHEN IT FIRST STARTS and then we don't have to guess who started it.

I think people are more upset with my views and opinions than my behavior. I am obviously here to debate issues and subjects. Many of those people writing one liners are simply attacking the bloggers instead of their views. IT IS HARD TO ATTACK A VIEW WITH A ONE LINER!

Just my opinion!!!

You won't see those words from me anymore. I hope we don't see them from others. They really are counter productive and are a distraction to any serious debate.

Anyway thanks for allowing me to post. Don't ever want to take your BLOG SITE for granted. I know you offering us a priviledge and it is not our right to post, so I APPRECIATE WHAT YOU DO FOR US ON THIS BLOG SITE.

By Naperville Sun editors on December 17, 2008 10:34 PM
Like I said before, I don't care who started it, I'd just like to drop it. It's like a few weeks back when Ken and the Napergatians were going back and forth. It's OK for a bit but when it just keeps going it gets old fast.

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Host Chris,

Ken deliberately tries to upset hundreds of Napergatians when they blog on a city matter. He calls them a cult and their leader a criminal.

I am simply here expressing my personal views and opinions. Bloggers attack me because they disagree with my opinions and views. They need to try debating me and attacking my opinions and views instead of me.

Obviously being Agnositic in this society is not tolerated. People jump on me without even listening to me or my views. Maybe their churches and mosques told them in their propaganda preachings that you must attack anyone who disputes your religion and not hold back. I am not sure what is going on with all this hostility.

I am simply expressing my view and not attacking anyone personally. Yes, I am questioning the institution of religion but that is not the same as attacking a blogger. I discuss issues and bloggers attack me. I have never attacked a blogger first. I have refrained from using foul language even though it was used against me and you let it through such as that word a$$. As you know when I used a different body part with a double meaning you refused to publish my post until I fixed it up. I agreed with you and I am glad I made the change.

But may I ask why you allowed the word a$$ in after asking us not to use such words? Would like some clarification if possible. I would rather keep this site clean. I share you goal and agenda in that respect.

I don't like describing the process of slaughtering a sheep. I had to give some details to make this Anonymous guy know I had been there and seen it. He was the one that took it to the level of GROSSNESS! In Muslim countries this slaughter is watched by everyone and they are simply immune to it since they see it very very often. I really could never get use to it. I just like animals a little too much. I hope if there is a Heaven all these slaughtered sheep can also make it to Heaven for the Sacrifices they made for the poor. I only sacrificed some chump change. They sacrificed their lives in order for the poor to be able to eat.

As President, I am going to try to persuade this country to become the first vegetarian country in the world. I would like to try to pass a law that would outlaw the killing of any animal for any reason. There is no reason we can not live as vegetarians. We would be a much healthier society without meat. We should really give it a try. I bet the life expectancy of humans would increase to 100 years old. I would like to live to be a 100 years old since I am not sure a Heaven exists especially if I can remain healthy.

Thank You!

Mary Poppins,

I am glad you chose not to debate me. I think you realized very quickly we were not in the same league.

If Anonymous is your only salvation, may Allah Bless You and have Mercy on your Soul!

As far as your second paragraph, the governor may have crossed an ethical line but not a criminal line. I have been saying that since this fiasco started. I am glad you are finally seeing the shining light. I AM GLAD TALK RADIO WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE YOU SINCE I WAS NOT. BUT ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME AS THEY SAY. NICE TO HAVE YOU ON BOARD FINALLY! I am glad you finally have left the herd on this blog site. Good going girl! It is nice to listen and then think as you finally succeeded in doing. Good Job!

Now let us stay on topic my Muslim friend.

Anonymous,

When you slaughter a sheep or lamb in Arab/Muslim culture it does not mean you have to personally slaughter the sheep. A prayer is said in your name to Allah for your generoisty as the sheep is slaughtered. You appear to be having trouble with Islamic custom and lingo. Understandable!

I never said I personally slaughtered a sheep. I had a sheep slaughtered for the Eid al Adah Feast which was a week ago Monday. That is what I said and I stand by what I said.

I am sorry you think I am being fictional when I am being non-fictional.

I don't know why I have gotten under you skin when I have made no attempt to get under your skin.

I am sorry you don't believe I am telling the truth. But I am. Since the Napergate Man is being brought up again, I want to remind you the whole town ganged up on him at one time because they thought he was not telling the truth.

A decade later we all found out he was telling the truth after the judicial system put all his allegations under the microscope. It amazes me how after the Napergate Saga we have so many bloggers on this blog site in disbelief when someone dares to challenge any establishment view.

The Napergate Man challenged the political views of the establishment. All I am trying to do is challenge the religious views of the establishment. I am being attacked in the same way he was attacked albeit in a smaller manner and in an unreal world.

But I can relate to him and one thing I can learn from him is the need to be persistant when you are under attack simply for your beliefs, views and opinions. Therefore I will not be intimidated and be as persistant as he was in yesteryears. Sometimes that is what it takes to break establishment views and propoganda that amounts to a sheepish herdish mentality as we have seen on this specific thread.

I never said I was right. All I said is no one knows if there is a Heaven or no Heaven. I simply doubt structured religion. Where is it written that it is wrong or criminal to disbelieve. I thought I was in America and not in Taliban Afghanistan.

Blogging here has really made me finally understand what the Napergate Man went through when he took on the establishmnet in real time and in the real world.

My choice of a handle is simply a choice of a handle permitted by Host Chris and this blog site. What is the big deal? Get over it folks! Grow up!

Thanks annonymous. I don't need to prove anything, I just stated a fact about myself.

I was listening to talk radio today and they were saying that the governor's actions for the most part are what politics are all about, he only crossed the line when he wanted to exchange the senate seat for personal gain, i.e. you get the senate seat if I get a $300k salary in a nonprofit. They basically said that a trade of a senate seat for another government position happens all the time in politics.

"BHO" says, at 7:16pm: "I practice Almsgiving and slaughtered a sheep a week ago Monday on Eid Al Adha and donated it to the poor."

And "BHO" says at 9:37pm: "I did not have to do anything. Just pay the 165 dollars. If you need the phone number of how to order one, just post your e-mail and I will tell you who to call.

I could not kill an ant. So I could never kill a sheep. I have many times thought of becoming a vegetarian especially after seeing my brother slaughter so many sheep in my presence.

You seem like you are trying to be a smart-a-lic. I am here just expressing my opinions and feelings."

Honestly, Chris, I'm not the one trying to be a smart-alec here, I am not trying to keep this topic off-topic, I just need to call out this guy who is asking others to post under their real names—as if he is, badgering and belittling and all of his other nonsense. I have seen livestock killed and butchered out on the farm back in the day, and I had a large indication that "BHO" had no clue what he was speaking of. He donated 165.00 to worthy causes. He is using the "I slaughtered a sheep" over and over again to get us to believe what? It's great that he made a donation, but it's not great that he is not truthful about much of anything that he writes, first and foremost his name. This is not funny, this is not adding value to the Sun's blog on any of the topics that he is posting on, Each of his posts is inflammatory in some way either personally to others or with comments that are complete fiction with the intent to make himself feel superior to others. Such complete nonsense. I like to play and have fun as much as anyone, but nothing of "BHO's" fiction is fun—bullying is never fun. I am absolutely happy to be censured on behalf of this blog if you take "BHO" down with me.

Back on track. The Illinois Supremes will not even hear the petition filed by the Democrat Attorney General daughter of the Speaker of the House before them to have the governor removed from office. Her father, the Democrat Speaker of the House is stalling the impeacment hearings because the Democrat Party is trying to find a way to ensure that the Democrat Lt. Governor will retain the right to select the replacement Senator for "His Majesty", the "Chosen Democratic Presidential One". Because if the People of the State of Illinois are treated to an open election, they may, just may vote for a Republican to fill the Senate seat which would not be acceptable to Democratic party leaders. They want a process similar to filling the Democrat Cook County Board President's seat. That is the Democratic party decides in back rooms after a certian amount of deal making and power sharing is accomplished. Heaven forbid that the Board votes for its President and heaven forbid that the citizens of Illinois select their Senator. The blog asks: What does it mean for the State? Does it change the political culture? It means the State continues to slid towards bankruptcy. The State continues to be highly disfunctional. Vendors for example in Illinois are owed almost $5 billion in unpaid bills for goods and services rendered. Many businesses will not seek state contacts with or do business with the state because IF they are paid for their goods or services, it could take months or years after paymet is due them. Thats IF they are not extorted during the entire process. The government in Illinois is a national laughing stock. There is no legitimate leadership in this state. ONLY Democratic politicians jockeying for political position and power. No, the political culture in Illinois is not changing. And it means for the State of Illinois more jobs leaving Illinois, less business development and the costs of government will be an even larger burden on the indvidual, citizen taxpayer. And when the goods and services are not handed to the poor people who need them, it means civil unrest will result. Thanks Democrats, you singularly and collectively have screwed up what used to be a competitive, industrial balanced state and turned it into a corrupt national joke! Now democrats move to Naperville and want to change at large council seats to ward seats. They just are not happy unless they are indeed ruining good stewardship of the public interest are they?

By Scott Huber on December 17, 2008 8:32 PM
Is it true that as a teenager, Governor Hot Rod once drove to Naperville and bought booze from the Napergate man? Scott Huber for Illinois Governor!!!!!

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Scott,

I have read this blog site like many Napervillians and learned much about the Napergate Man.

I don't want to get off subject but I think this Napergate Man is a decent and principled man.

The world was once against him as they are against Blagojevich.

He knew he was innocent and fought an unimaginable battle.

I will admit I initially thought he was as guilty as they come. I was wrong like most Napervillians.

This Blagojevich case could turn out to be another Napergate Man Case....very easily.

He could be found innocent of everything.

The differnce between the Napergate Man and this Blagojevich fellow is that one is a principled decent man and one is a very bad apple....Blagojevich being the latter.

Let us leave the Napergate Man out of this discussion. He never did any wrong to anyone. He did a great job of cleaning the streets of Illinios from fake IDs. He should be honored by you folks in Naperville if you knew right from wrong....decent from evil!

The Napergate Man is a true American Hero. Since Naperville never honored him, I will invite him to the White House and honor him some time in 2009.

Thank you!

Anonymous,
I did not slaughter the sheep myself. I am not capable. But I have a brother who is capable and done that many times in front of me. You say "Bismallah al rah man al rahim" and you use a very sharp knife to slit the throat from the bottom up. In Kenya, he would hang it upside down on a tree branch by its 2 hing legs and skin it after slitting its throat and letting the blood all come out. It was down outside so the blood eventually seeps through the dirt and it is not too messy.

In Kenya, when we slaughter a lamb or sheep, we eat most parts of the beast. We stuff its stomach with rice and chopped meat and eat it. We love the tongue. And I hate to say it, but we eat the animals "you know what" as we feel it makes you, "you know what."

If you were following my earlier e-mails, I had the sheep/lamb slaughtered professionally for me in a Chicago Slaughterhouse that specializes in Halal Meat. Upon my direction, it was taken to a local mosque and distributed to the poor the same day. I did not have to do anything. Just pay the 165 dollars. If you need the phone number of how to order one, just post your e-mail and I will tell you who to call.

I could not kill an ant. So I could never kill a sheep. I have many times thought of becoming a vegetarian especially after seeing my brother slaughter so many sheep in my presence.

You seem like you are trying to be a smart-a-lic. I am here just expressing my opinions and feelings.

Santa Claus thought I should be donating to help the poor and I just wanted to let him know that I did and I will donate again this Christmas. I really don't see what the problem is with some of you bloggers.

You should be happy to learn about different cultures and beliefs.

I hope I answered your questions. I did not see the process and hope to never see the process of slaughter again. When I was a young boy, I use to cry when my Dad slaughtered the goats we raised. I thought of them as pets. But I could not overcome society. One time a goat my Dad owned had 4 babies. That was a miracle as most goats only have one or two. My Dad let us keep those and raise them as pets. He was kind enough to make one exception. We became attached to them. 3 were females so we got a lot of good goat milk every morning.

You can say I am more worldly and have been around the block more than most typical Americans. I feel very fortunate!

Editors:

This is getting pretty creepy - it is now going beyond satire or farce. You need to do something about this.

Is it true that as a teenager, Governor Hot Rod once drove to Naperville and bought booze from the Napergate man? Scott Huber for Illinois Governor!!!!!

BHO said (many, many times) "I practice Almsgiving and slaughtered a sheep a week ago Monday on Eid Al Adha and donated it to the poor."

Great, as you are attempting to fact check here with others, I have a few questions, also.

Was it a lamb, or sheep--ewe or ram or tup? How much did it weigh at purchase? How many pounds of meat did that produce? If it was a lamb, as I have always heard is used...how large can sheep get, or how old while still being considered a lamb? Where did you purchase the beast? What did it cost per pound? How did you transport the animal? If a lamb, aren't most lambs born in spring with this animal? Was it shorn, how long was the wool and did you shear the animal, as to not waste the wool?

A few more questions--how did you let the blood, slit the throat and hang so that the blood runs from the animal and from the flesh? How did you gut the beast, as to not contaminate the flesh for human consumption? Do you skin before or after the gutting? Did you cut the carcass up in your garage, kitchen? How did you maintain sanitary conditions? Where did the waste and by-products go to be discarded? How many cuts of lamb or mutton does a sheep produce? How do you process the cuts that are less desirable, than say the leg or chops to make desirable for a mainstream US diet? How do you cool the meat quickly enough to keep it a safe product and who inspected the job? What shelter or shelters would take that much mutton and know how to prepare it for a large group, if they are familiar with the ways and means of cafeteria style food to feed a large number of needy individuals? How did the recipients prepare the meat?

And...who were the recipients, if shelters or charity kitchens? Do food banks distribute easily spoiled fresh meat, especially from private sources?

Enquiring minds would like to know.

By Mary Poppins on December 17, 2008 4:32 PM
I am a Muslim, BHO, born and raised. I would LOVE to know who you really are.

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My Dear Mary Poppins,

I have told you who I am. I am Barack Hussein Obama. My middle name proves that I am part Muslim and Arab. What more do you want?

You are here claiming to be a Muslim and use Mary Poppins for your name. Give me your real name, please!

If you are a Muslim can you recite Al-Fatiha? Every Muslim can! Do you know what "Bisma Allah al Rahman al Rahiem" means? Do you know what "Ash-hadu an la elaha el Allah wa anna Muhammad Rasool Allah" translates to? Prove you are a Muslim, my dearest Mary Poppins!

I have stated I am half Muslim from day one. I can back that up with extreme knowledge. I once prayed 5 times a day to Allah and fasted 30 days in Ramadan for 8 consecutive years. I never made the pilgramage to Mecca though to be cleansed all over again. I practice Almsgiving and slaughtered a sheep a week ago Monday on Eid Al Adha and donated it to the poor. While an Agnositc, I repect all the good parts of all religions and try to particpate when appropriate. I think it is great that religious institutions preach to give. But I wish they would not take 90% of the donations for overhead before it is passed on to the poor and needy. The sheep I bought for 165 dollars and slaughtered was 100% used to feed the poor and hungry. What did you do for Eid Al Adha my dear Muslim friend, Mary Poppins? Did you slaughter a sheep as is required by all good Muslims and feed the hungry? Do you know what line you are suppose to recite from Islam before you slaughter the sheep to make it Halal. Something tells me the Eid Al Adha went right over your head.

All you did is go to an Enclyopedia or the Internet to find out what the remaining 1% of non-Muslims in Turkey are composed of. When I write I don't refer to anything other than my personal experiences.

Now instead of asking me who I am, tell me who you are. Prove to me you are a Muslim girl. Muslim girls are very obedient and don't use words like a$$ when writing. Muslim girls are virgins. I doubt you are or were before you were married. Just a gut feeling based on your tongue and what comes out of your mouth.

I think you are all hot air, Ms. Mary Poppins. I gave you some extreme detail in response to your prior post. All you have to say "I would LOVE to know who you really are." LOL!

I will meet you at the Starbucks in downtown Naperville tonight at 9pm. Please control yourself and don't throw your high heels at me. And don't come wearing your veil either. Just like you want to know who I am, I want to know who you are. I can not identify you if you come wearing an Afghanistan type veil and look at me through a densely fiber netted opening. And don't come wearing a super short mini skirt and try to tell me your a good Muslim girl either. Try to dress somewhere in between and in a modest fashion. I repect the moderation as taught by the Palestinian West Bank Sheiks and not the fundamentalism taught by the Pakistani Mullahs. If you want to come Iranian style to meet me, that is also OK. Iranian style means you can show your face and have a few hairs up front sticking out of a head scarf.

Your wish of "LOVING to want to know who I am will come TRUE!" Describe yourself a little so I can recognize you when I see you at Starbucks. And please don't interfere with my Security Detail. Do as they say!

After I meet you I expect you to keep my identity confidential on this blog site. I will reciprocate and keep your identity confidential.

Thank you!

PS. If you want direct communication please post your e-mail and I will contact you and confirm our rendezvous tonight or another night if it is more convenient for you. Inshallah!

T.B.

Yes, I agree. Being a die hard republican I wanted to at least hold the Dem's feet to the fire, but I wonder how I / We would react if it was a Republican and everything was reversed? I suspect we would demand another Republican gets the position so I can't blame the Dem's for that. I would like to hear Durbin's answer as to why he changed his mind since last week. If he was honest he would admit that a Democrat would not be assured of anything in a special election so they wish to retain the appointment option.

I wonder how many Republicans switched parties for Obama's Senate election a few years back(remember this was the one where the Republicans threw in Keys?). A new election, along with a democratic backlash, could prove disasterous if it was held.

"By T.B. on December 17, 2008 3:18 PM

Bubo –

While novel and intriguing, your formula doesn’t account for the fact that Joe Six Pack would never get elected to begin with because he lacks the campaign funds to do so. Campaign finance reform needs to go hand-in-hand with anything like what you’re proposing.

T.B.

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TB,

A candidate could promise everything to everyone (while trashing the competition) to raise unlimited funding, then back out of the promises using the economy as the reason; this could be done between the election and the inauguration.

Bubo

Host Chris,
I was impressed with the Supreme Court Decision. They made Lisa Madigan look like one of the sheep bloggers on this site. They blew her off badly. They did not even ask for a response from Blagojevich. Obviously, that was a major insult not to ask for a response. It indicates how weak and ridiculous her case was. They rejected it with one or 2 sentences. Not one of the 9 Supreme Court Justices lowered themselves to respond to such an insane complaint.
It turns out the Governor is not insane.....but Ms. Madigan may be for bringing such a frivolous complaint questioning the governor's mental faculties and stablities.

I have been watching some cable news shows and most expert lawyers are saying Blagojevich did not committ a crime. That the US Attorney jumped the gun. Many agree he was unethical or immoral but not a criminal. As I have been saying he was horse trading which has been going on since the United States was founded.

I don't care for Blagojevich since he would not give Valerie Jarrent the Senate position for anything other than appreciation. But as President I am under the microscope and can not be doing horse trading any more. I am sure you all understand.

If I was a governor I would also be looking for something in return for awarding a Senate Seat. One has to raise 40 million dollars in campaign contributions to run for this Seat...my former Seat. Offering to raise a million and a half dollars in campaign contirbutions for this seat is a very low price. Jesse Jackson Jr. should have offered to raise at least 5 million dollars for the Governor.

What is going over people's heads here is that Jesse and others were willing to help raise campaign contributions for the Governor. This is not illegal. They were not trying to bribe him with green cash to stuff in his mattress. Those are 2 different and distinct things. One is unethical and one is ILLEGAL. One is sleezy and one is CRIMINAL.

The way it should be done is Blagojevich is suppose to give the seat to Jesse with a wink and a nod. And Jesse is suppose to understand that wink and nod meant raise me some campaign money so I can smear my next opponent again with ads and be elected governor even though I am a sleeze bag. Not talk about it openly while being wire tapped. How foolish!

This Jesse Jackson Jr. guy is a total idiot. He is been telling the Feds Blagojevich is a "criminal" since 2002 and informing on him. And then he goes to the "criminal" and asks him for my seat for campaign contributions. On top of that he insults the Governor by only offering 1.5 million dollars when the seat is worth 40 million dollars.

In New York, the Governor is corretly using the wink and nod system. He is hinting that he will install Caroline Kennedy and her supporters are hinting that CK has great campaign funding abilities meaning she will raise a lot of money for the Governor of New York if he installs here. No price is being mentioned but a Senate Seat in New York requires upwards of 50 million in campaign money if you want to be elected.

I made a mistake by appointing so many Senators to work in my Administration and Cabinet. It has opened a can of worms. I dislike Hillary and did not want her. But I was pressured by Bill Clinton and he wanted something in return for his wife since they did campaign for me and raised quite a bit of that $150 million I raised that one month beofore the election. I want you all to know I hate Hilary Clinton and think she is a disgrace to society. I am going to see if I can get US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerad to dig something on that no good for nothing lady. I am watching my language since I undestand this is a family blog site and refraining from calling her the B word. That woman is the most egotistical and arrogant person you will ever meet. She will be a disgrace to our country as Secretary of State. Just give me some time....as soon as she screws up, I will issue her the appropriate walking papers and give her the good riddance of her life in a way she could never have imagined possible.

Be assured before I terminate her, I will ask the Secret Service to confiscate both of her high heels. I am not going to allow her to make me look like a fool. I am no Bush! Since I am half-Muslim I could never handle such a an insult. My family in Kenya would be outraged and riot for days if something like that ever happened. So please understand if you see that short Hillary walking in my Oval Office without her high heels on! That will be my new policy. I am taking no chances for I may even fire her one day on impulse! As I said I can't stand that lady and I will be looking for any opportunity to terminate her as Secretary of State.

Thank you!

Blago paid for mob protection, keeps getting better. Is he giving odds on impeachment?

"Blagojevich was bookie, says federal informant"

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6559104

I am a Muslim, BHO, born and raised. I would LOVE to know who you really are.

Anon –

Dragging their feet could also be seen as being deliberate. I hope and expect the impeachment process is deliberate enough to stand the test of time. I would hate to see this instance used as precedent in the future for some capricious use of impeachment. Unfortunately, these things take time.

I don’t think Durbin and Quinn had a change of heart regarding the special election because of some inside deal. I think they realized that they could actually lose a special election (and thus a Senate seat), but an appointment would assuredly be another Dem.

I’m sure a few phone calls from DC (or 230 S. Dearborn Street) persuaded them that an appointment was in the Dem’s, if not the Illinois voters’, best interest.

**********

Bubo –

While novel and intriguing, your formula doesn’t account for the fact that Joe Six Pack would never get elected to begin with because he lacks the campaign funds to do so. Campaign finance reform needs to go hand-in-hand with anything like what you’re proposing.

T.B.

Bubo,

I wrote a best seller book that generated great proceeds. My wife and I are both Harvard lawyers. That is how we bought the house and we did not pay 3.5 million for it. Where did you get that misinformation from? Also we got a huge loan since we both had excellent credit.

Rezko gave us a sweet heart deal and we sold a piece of land attached to the house to make it all affordable. You need to subtract that piece of land out of the price since it was revenue agaisnt the purchase.

Just for the record at the time I was young and naive and clueless that Rezko was this corrupt. I am not driving a Saturn yet but looking for one. It is an American product and as a US President I want to spend my money on American made products.

WHAT ARE THE COSTS OF HONEST GOVERNMENT?

IMHO salary and benefits are at the bottom of the political scandals. Yes, yes, egos, but self-sufficient-egos are less likely to accept bribes in any form. In fact, they might even arrest the scum offering them the bribes. Morally superior politicians, WOW!

While it is easy to say that the Governors should serve in exchange for little to nothing, this leaves the elected offices in the domain of the rich and the corrupt. No one else can afford to put their family's economic security on hold, or in jeopardy, for 4-12 years. The number of US Senators that become multi-millionaires on the job is scandalous, both parties. Senator’s wives should be banned from working for, or as, Lobbyists. Same goes for government contractors.

• A simple and much less expensive solution would be to give our Governors, State wide office holders, US and State Congressmen and Senators, their families including children up to the age of 21 and parents full lifetime medical coverage at 100% on the State of Illinois plan. An additional 200-300 people on the plan will cost little to nothing.

• Give their kids full 4 year scholarships to any IL State University they can get in to and stay in, they have to graduate in four years. Strictly admitted and kept on the merits of their performance. Again, the cost is peanuts.

• Give our US Reps/Senators and State wide office holders $4000-5000 a month housing and expenses allowance while they are in DC / Springfield (yes its expensive there) if they agree to self-imposed term limits of 12 years; otherwise, they have to pay the money back in full the day they renege on their promise and register to run again. They should get a $50K net bonus plus moving expenses the day they retire from the House or Senate etc, regardless of the length of service inside the 12 year window. Double dipping on the pensions is fine, but they don’t get them until they retire from public life.

• Our US congressmen and State Wide office holders should get a lifetime $50K a year net pension from the state regardless of how long they serve, the Senators should get $75K net and our Governors should get a lifetime net $100K per year plus a one time $500K retirement bonus which has to be used to purchase a primary residence or to retire the mortgage on their primary residence. Any residual money would have to be used to pay their property taxes. We don’t need more US Grants or Blagos.

• At the State level, the Reps and Senators (and other state wide elected office holders) should be able to commute to Springfield and remain in their houses, and keep their businesses. It would probably be hard to keep a position as an employee. They should be given the same lifetime medical coverage and tuition plans for their families and get modest lifetime pensions of net $25K per year. Again, this is dirt cheap to what corruption costs us. The State should give them a hotel and per diem credit card, billed directly to the State, to use when they are in Springfield covering the cost of a room rental at the Marriott Suites or similar hotel of their choice and three meals a day. The expenses would be just like what the military gives the soldiers.

• In addition to the Governors Mansion, the other state wide office holders should get a net $5000 a month housing and expenses allowance while they hold office in addition to their salaries, lifetime medical and tuition for their kids. In addition a one time net $100K bonus (or pro rated) when they leave.

Sound expensive? It’s probably less than the graft from just one of the kickback or extortion schemes that we know about.

This would allow Joe six pack trades or professional to hold public office and not experience economic ruin if he/she doesn't take the payoffs or “play ball”.

We need to the best, and the honest, to hold public office, its cheaper in the long run.

Otherwise, we should ask the Rockefellers, Kennedys and other American Royalty to move out here and run the state for those unfortunate ones that have to work. Of course, they made their money by engaging in what are now considered illegal acts, but why dwell on the past.

Let’s see, Barak was driving a Saturn and two years later was able to purchase a $3.5MM dollar house in Chicago. Maybe he should write another book on how to make money legally so we can all learn how to buy $3.5MM houses. Chicago’s own clean politician.

It is interesting to see that the democrats are delaying the impeachment process (even though their vote was unanimous). I also wonder who is paying for Blago's attorney? I would bet that Blago has let it be known that if he goes down he will take a few others with him!

Isn't it also interesting that our beloved Senator Durbin said last week that a new election was needed to restore the faith in our politicians, now this week, he (and presumably all democrats) seems to think that Pat Quinn appointing another democrat is the best for us? Sounds like some inside deal making has been going on.

Turkey is the only country among the Islamic countries which has included secularism in her Constitution and practices it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Mary Poppins,

Your statement shows how naive you are. Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and Syria also practice secularism. They also have tiny Christian and Jewish minorities which they toloerate and should. Iran has a few hundred Jews and officially also practices secularism even though it considers itself an Islamic State.

How about Lebanon? Lebanon has a majority Muslim population but also practices secularism. They may have 35% Christians in that Islamic Country. In their secular constitution they require the President to be a Christian Phalangist and the Prime Minister to be a Sunni Muslim. Shite Muslims are now given 6 government ministerial jobs. I traveled to most of these countries and understand what goes on.

To be more specific if you are born a Muslim in Turkey or any of these other countries you better stay a Muslim. Yes, you are brainwashed by the blaring Minarets 5 times a day to keep your faith or else. You will not be slaughtered in Turkey by the state if you become a Kafir, but you will be slaughtered by the Islamic institutions and their followers. Turkey is better than Iran and is the most Westernized Muslim country. In Iran the state will slaughter you if you denounce Islam. If you are a Jew in Iran, they will tolerate you. But make a call and talk to an Israeli and you will be declared a traitor, accused of committing treason and hung without trial. Sometimes if there is a lot of international publicity, a Jew will be given a trial for public relations purposes and than slaughtered.

Are you going to deny that the State of Iran has a FATWA on the life of Salman Rushdie? They even have a million dollar reward for his head. The British Govt. has to protect him around the clock. Many Muslim and Arab countries are honoring this FATWA that the Mullahs of Iran have ordered. Now just try to imagine if Salman Rushdie lived in a Muslim country and questioned Islam??? Do you think these countries even if secular would dare protect him? Do you know of any Muslim country that has called on Iran to withdraw the FATWA on Rushdie's life? Name one if you can, Mary Poppins!

The 1% minority in Turkey is off limits to becoming Kufaar(Kufaar is the plural for Kafir) and slaughtered. The 99% Muslims are not off limits and can not become Kufaars and denounce Islam. No Muslim has ever dared to the best of my knowledge. And if he or she did no one would know what happened to them. They would vanish in a bucket of chemicals, Saddam style.

You really know very little about these Islamic Countries, my dear Mary Poppins. Even if you are a Christian girl in one of these countries you better maintain your virginity. Lose your virginity in one of these Muslim countries and they will stone you to death whether you are a Christian or Muslim. In Saudia Arabia, they don't bother stoning you anymore. They just tie you to a rock and the executioner chops your head off with one strike of a very sharp sword.

I don't think you want to challenge me on the subject of Islam. Even in Jewish Israel where Muslims live if a Muslim lady has sex before marriage her family will slaughter her to save their honor. For the most part Jewish Israel will look the other way. Many young ladies are slaughtered annually. Try reading Haaretz on the internet for a few months before you babble. You are very lucky in America where Host Chris allowed you to use that a$$ word. With a mouth like that I would recommend you stay very clear of all Muslim countries. They may not slaughter you for using that word, but I assure you they will show you the soles of their shoes and probably throw them at you. I hope you can duck half as good as Bush or you will have a bloody face.

Ramallah, a Christian town in occupied Palestine is mostly Christian. Its sister city Al-Bireh is mostly Muslim. The cities get along great as long as there is no intermingling. Christians are not allowed to eat in public during Ramadan. While they have churches and can worship freely, they must take their shoes off before entering a church. And Christians are forced by the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic institutions to maintain their virginity or ELSE. That is how Muslim countries function whether they are secular or declared Islamic States. With your knowledge of Islam, Ms. Poppins I doubt you could survive the first 24 hours in Ramallah. If I were you I would not apply for a US Passport any time soon and stay put till you learn more about Islamic Culture and how it is practiced in reality and not how it is reported to be practiced by the American media.

Islam treats women as second class citizens my dear Mary Poppins. They are brainwashed to believe they are lesser than men and most be obedient and subservient to them. If the guy that made love to you was caught he would probably not be slaughtered depending on the country. Only you would be slaughtered regardless of the country.

Defend Islam all you want. Convert to Islam and try living in Afghanistan. Don't forget to put your veil on and look through the netted window. No exceptions, Mary Poppins even if it is 130 degrees Farenheit. And when you pray don't forget to take your high heels off. Once in a while throw them at a Crusader and you may become a heroine in that society.

I bet most Christians can relate to me when I speak about my views and opinions regarding Islam. Unfortunately, they can not relate as well when I speak about the problems of Christianity. In my opinion it is due to brainwashing passed on by dozens of generations and reinforced. If you only knew half the truth, my dear Mary Poppins.

And if you do decide to vist a Muslim country make sure you buy a bar of soap and stick it in your mouth on the way there to wash out your filthy mouth. Kus Imek! If you know anything about Muslim or Arabic culture you will know what those 2 words mean! Hopefully, you don't!

Have a nice day, Ms. Mary Poppins!

Let them go to WalMart like the rest of us. Maybe he can make a deal on some promo! Right!

Hey...David Letterman just said Gov. Patterson "annointed" Dave to replace Hillary & he gave his own Top Ten List...not on the website yet but pretty good. Take a look later!

Here is last nights on Top Ten Messages left on Blago's Answering Machine!

http://lateshow.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/index/php/20081210.phtml

So to get back on track:

"Paying a Governor $177,000 is chump change. Governor Sarah Palin needed a wardrobe that cost 150k alone. How do you expect this governor to pay for his wardrobe, that of his elitist fussy and cussy wife plus that of their 2 children with the little money he was earning. He had 0 savings. He has to pay the expenses of his Chicagoland home. Yes, he is provided a home in Springfield but most governors find it difficult to live there with 90% of Illinois population in the NE part of the state."

There is so much wrong with this statement. You don't run for governor for the money, you run for governor for the people.

Host Chris, I'm sorry. BHO and people who don't understand Islam get me fired up.

"Today, if you are born in Turkey, you are brainwashed to believe in Islam by soceity and to a great extent even the state. The Minarets blare 5 times a day there is no God but God, that Muhammad is the only Prophet of God, and that God never had a Son.( meaning and implying Christianity is lying when they say Jesus is the Son of God.)

OK BHO, you dragged me in. In Turkey, you are not brainwashed to believe in Islam. Turkey is 99% muslim, The remaining is composed of Orthodox Christians, Gregorian Christians, Catholic, Suryani and Protestant Christians, and Jews. Although most of the population is Muslim, Turkey is a secular country and everyone has freedom of religion and beliefs. No one can be forced to participate in religious ceremonies or rites against their will and no blame can be attached to anyone because of their beliefs. Thank you very much. BHO, you are talking out of your ass. Have you ever been to Turkey? I suggest you make a field trip before making sweeping statements of "fact". Turkey is the only country among the Islamic countries which has included secularism in her Constitution and practices it.

Professor,

I think you know exactly where I am coming from.

Your examples are what we should teach as opposed to what we are preaching in our religious institutions.

I am all for teaching good manners. I am all for love.

Teaching is very good. Preaching as in our CHURCHES is BRAINWASHING!

You preach but will not interfer...right.

So then do we brainwash people to obey laws of our land? Do we brainwash our children to say "Please" and "Thank You"? Do we brainwash people to believe in love? Do we brainwash people to think anyone could act moral & just in any occupation?

Anyone will tell you anything alone...give them a few beers & you get them to tell you way more than you want & agree with you more if you are paying! Heck, they'll even get you proclaiming God soon. (Sorry, my first bad but hey it is true...and I don't even think it matters what God!) The point should be...wait what was the point of you bringing up all this religion again? Quite frankly I do not care if you are religious or not, or what religion you are as long as you are a good & loving person. Why you are doesn't matter to me.

Anonymous,

I can not prove that there is a Heaven and I can not prove there is no Heaven. You must have not been comprehending what I am saying.

Again, at one point the Romans who believed in numerous Gods were killing Christians who only believed in one God in that famous Roman Colisseum. They were brainwashed to believe in and worship Statues of Goddesses. Can we at least agree on that point?

The Romans thought the Christians were nuts. They had no proof either way. Later the Christians became more powerful and thought the Romans who worshipped Statues were nuts. Most people converted due to pressure, power and brainwashing if you will.

Today, if you are born in Turkey, you are brainwashed to believe in Islam by soceity and to a great extent even the state. The Minarets blare 5 times a day there is no God but God, that Muhammad is the only Prophet of God, and that God never had a Son.( meaning and implying Christianity is lying when they say Jesus is the Son of God.) Now to me that is brainwashing. And futhermore if you are a Muslim and renounce your religion, you are considered a Kafir. Once you are labeled a Kafir, any fellow Muslim is allowed to slaughter you. British Author Salman Rushdie denoucned his Islamic Faith and the Mullahs in Iran have a death warrant on him. Now are you going to tell me this is a religion made by the One and all loving God. I say no. I say Islam is brainwashing!

Most Christians will agree with me in private that Islam is a religion that brainwashed people. They are able to think out of the box when it is not their religion.

Now most Muslims will agree with me in private that Christianity is a bogus religion that practices brainwashing. When they hear that a Christian can ask the Lord Jesus Christ for forgivness even for 1st degree murder and they will be sin free and as clean as a baby, they laugh. They feel you can only be forgiven for murder and be as clean as a baby again, if you circle the Kabaa in Mecca 7 times during a Holy Pilgrimage.

Now if that is not nonsense, I don't know what is. I am sorry I am touching some nerves here but I am simply expressing my beliefs which seem to me more believable than those of organized and structured religion.

Unlike some Christians or Muslims, I would never murder or hurt anyone. I am not going to count on forgiveness. I am going to be a good person since I can not prove there is not a Heaven and if there is one I want God to judge me as a good person and put me in Heaven.

I am not counting on any religiion to put me in Heaven. I am only counting on the Almighty God to put me in Heaven if there is a Heaven. I am playing it safe and close to the vest. In the meantime while I am on earth I am going to enjoy life to the fullest. If the Muslims want to waste their life praying every 2 hours and 5 times a day that is up to them. If they want to bathe 5 times a day before each sequence of prayers that is up to them. If they want to spend half of their day praying instead of working that is up to them. No wonder so many Muslim countries are so poor if they don't have oil. I think it is a waste of time to repeat the same prayer 5 times a day, 35 times a day. In Islam they have them praying so many times a week, they hardly have a chance to think. When you are not given time to think, you can easily be BRAINWASHED! Especially if you are threatened with stoning if you dare challenge your Islamic faith.

I feel comfortable discussing religion because I was born half-Muslim and half-Christian. I feel comfortable discussing race because I was born half-white and half-black. I simply had to do a lot of thinking and rationalization since I was born with such a unique heritage. In the end everything worked out for me and I am in disbelief that I will soon be the President of the United States of America.

As your President, I will not interfere with your religious beliefs. Believe as you will and practice as you will. All I am asking is that you accept me as your first Agnostic President. As you know after my pastor in my last Church cussed on white America, I had to dump him, his Christian religion and his Christian Church. I feel much better these days. I hope you all understand. It was easy for me to understand since my Mom was a nice white lady from Kansas and I was offended that a Christian Pastor would cuss on my Mom. I found that abhorrent. The Church is still open despite its vile preachings and practices! Why does Christianity tolerate this filth in a Church of God! They need to close this Church down if they want to have my respect in addition to my tolerance.

Thank You!

Do not underestimate the value of having your ducks out of line though! ;-)

I totally agree with the editor...I think it is hard not to respond...to let them think we agree when we don't, but we do wish it would stay on topic. Hard either way. So the Senate is pissed (can I say that?) with the Reps for not having a special election to replace Obama...geez! Now could Blago still assign himself to the position? Could they get him out? I mean would he want to. Can you imagine him walking in & what would it be like. Then the guy might really be deemed looney! HA! So then lets see what kind of job could he get? I mean if they impeach him would WalMart even hire him?

BHO--it isn't your beliefs that I am concerned about, you go right ahead and believe whatever you would like. It's your disrespect of what others may believe and your condescending and disrespectful remarks toward other belief systems and the people that may hold them, calling certain belief systems "brain washing" and the people that may hold those beliefs to be sheeple and stupid?. How can you expect to be respected for what you believe, when you don't return the respect? Do I sound stupid? Do I sound uneducated? Do I sound unsuccessful or unhappy? I don't need to go head to head with you on any front, as my ducks are all in a row. I wish you peace and all the best, and will return respect for your right to believe what you will, right after you give respect to those that believe in something else and stop trying to bully your way into thinking that you can change any minds here with your poor attempt at humiliation. You underestimate those you speak badly of. You also underestimate your "humor" and it's power, or lack of it. I have watched and enjoyed SNL and their fun since 1976, you are not enjoyable and your veiled anger and cruelty undermines anyone's fun.

Once again, you are here only to hear you own voice, we all know it. Holding this topic hostage and causing a number of us, including myself to not even remember what the topic is makes your blow-hard comments successful? YAWN.

Prove to me, will you, that there is no heaven?

BHO,
I think you are in need of a good proctologist. Something is definitely backed up. I don't think they would know where to start though, since you've made a complete arse of yourself.

Host Chris,
You are running a very successful blog site. I think that is due to your flexibility, tolerance and above all your refusal to censure.

Many subject matters stall and get old. People run out of things to say. By allowing us to deviate off subject, you keep your threads and blog site rolling and prospering.

Of course, if you don't want us to deviate off subject, you could consider starting a new thread about religion during this Holiday Season when religion is on our minds. Obviously, there is interest from all those who respond to me while denying they even read my posts...lol...

If you want to measure how successful you have been in your first few weeks, just realize that this thread alone mustered 10 times more posts than Editor Tim West could muster in over a year before he surrendered and closed his blog site down to avoid further humiliation, after the Napergatians called him out for CENSORING!

You are hitting the jackpot of success. Don't tamper with what you are doing. If it is not broken, don't fix it. Capitalize on it and make it even better.

Thank you for allowing me to post and express my opinions despite objections by many of your bloggers! You have showed that your are a courageous Host who will not be intimidated or pressured by any individual or group. I commend you for your bravery!

Maybe one day you will be recognized as the Larry King of Blog Moderators. Keep up the good work Host Chris and stay the course!

Thank you!

There is a difference between Spirituality & Religion...be careful...and it does & only has somethng to do with politicians & the Gov if they are serving the SELF God...so in a way it does. See...Politics & Religion always are trouble! HA! Then of course there is Mr. Clinton to bring in the 3rd! HA!

I attend churches on occassion and I am not insulted that they try to brainwash me. I listen and formulate my opinion.

If you disagree with me, no big deal. No need to get all riled up.

Talk Host Mr. Bill Maher is an Atheist.

CNN's Larry King is an Agnostic. He gently questions all his religious guests about how they arrived at their beliefs and none of them can give him an answer. He nods his head in disbelief and moves to the next question.

I don't think either is crazy.

I have certain beliefs. I am surprised people are bothered or intimidated by my beliefs. When your beliefs in Church are strictly based on faith with no proof, I can see why Church believers become extremely defensive when someone dares to make a statement questioning a religious institution and its propaganda.

50 years from today when people hear that the color of smoke coming out of a building decides that a Pope has finally been chosen, folks will be laughing at us like we are fools for falling for all this brainwashing. Just as we laugh at the Romans and Greeks for worshipping many Gods built in the form of statues! In those times they believed and also had faith that those STATUE GODS had Supreme Powers....lol....

The bottom line the 3 monolithic religions that believe in ONE GOD have each criticised the other 2 as being wrong and full of lost souls.

The Muslims think the Christians are infidels for thinking the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God told them he has no Son. They blare that from the tops of their Minarets 5 times a day. God talked to the Prophet Muhammad 632 years after Christianity was born and told him Jesus was not his Son and he has no Sons. In Islam, if you believe Jesus is the Son of God you are considered a Kafir and can be executed. Now, how ridiculous is that for a religion. Give me a break!

Just as we believe Muslims are pyschos, they believe we Christians are psychos. They think we disrespect God because we pray with our shoes on. How dare we do that? They take their shoes off before praying? There is no way the same God told some of his flock you can pray with your shoes on and another part of his flock you must take you shoes off.

I am really surprised most bloggers don't see all this silliness amongst religions. Most Catholics I know think Prostestants are a little off. Most Protestants I know think Catholics are a little off.

And Jews think Palestinians are dogs while they are the CHOSEN PEOPLE of God. And Palestinians think if you blow up a few Jews you go straight to Heaven and are given 72 beautiful young female virgins.

Common you guys, do you also believe in the tooth fairy!

You guys are worried about my mental stability because I question all your religions that condemn each other. I should be questioning your mental stability for not seeing the hypocrisy of all your religions.

Happy Holidays, Stay Safe, and make an attempt to not follow every herd of sheep you run into. Be brave! Think! Pray to God directly and not through a religious institution. If you are good no matter what religion you are or are not, you are going to Heaven if there is a Heaven. If you are bad no matter what religion you are or are not, you are going to Hell if there is a Hell. Enjoy life on earth to its fullest. It may be the only LIFE we have. Don't waste one minute on this earth. It is beautiful!

I worked hard and I am going to the White House. It is beautiful there from what I have seen. I simply can not imagine Heaven is going to be better than LIFE in the White House. I will have cooks at my command who will make me whatever I want. I will have servants washing my family clothes. I will have Chaffeurs driving me wherever I want to go. And I will have 2 private jets that will take me wherever my heart desires. My little girls will have a puppy that they can play with. I was even told I could bring my barber with me to the White House to keep me looking good. And above all there are massage therapists that will give me massages whenever my heart desires.

I worked hard and I am going to Heaven. Heaven is on this Earth. You just have to appreciate it. You guys in Naperville are living in the most beautiful town in America. If you can't see Heaven on Earth, you are blind. The folks in Gaza Strip would love to trade places with you. They will understand Heaven and you will understand true poverty and appreciate how nice you really have it. Sometimes that is what it takes for someone to understand how good they have it.

The difference between you folks and me, is I appreciate the brain God gave me and used it to accomplish my goals and be happy. You guys don't seem capable of exploring your full potential and go to the church for your crutch and to share your misery with others. Misery loves company and that is why your churches in Naperville are overflowing on Sunday. Please take your shoes off next Sunday before you worship and show some respect to your God.

Thank you!

Hey...what do you mean there is no Santa Claus! I'd rather be happy delusional if that is what you want to label me. Someone obviously does not know what Santa is! I think you should watch Miracle on 34th Street more...both versions! Any MAN who understands what Santa is really about, who represents him making children and adult happy & helping them open their hearts to more love and giving is a REAL MAN...one who has all my respect and 100% support! Heck if he needs a Mrs. Claus! HA! Maybe if more of our politicians understood what Santa was about (& thus God) that they are not on this planet just to serve themselves but to make the world a better place with each breath they take, they (& we) would not be in this mess now. You want to say all of that is brainwashing & delusional...I disagree! I think you do not understand the true meaning of Christmas (or any other equivalent!) Now some may hide behind spirituality to justify hurting others but they do not understand the true meaning then either. Love is what it is all about! Love for our Planet, Love for a fellow HUMANS on this planet, Love for every Animal...ok I'll stop because I'm breaking out in song..."What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love..." And Burt Bacharach would cringe at my voice probably! Oh my..."I'd like to teach the world to sing..." Look what you have done now. I'll be singing these for the rest of the day now...ugh...I guess there are worse!

Barack, Why do you feel the need to insult those whose opinions differ from yours?
You state that those who believe in God or those who believe differently than you are "brainwashed". You call people "gullible" and liken believing Blagojevich may be guilty or having a faith to believing in Santa Claus! At least these adults don't believe they ARE Santa Claus. Do you think posing as and posting as if you were Obama makes you superior or credible? There is a big difference between stating your own opinion and putting your words in someone else's mouth. You seem to have a blurred line as far as what is fair or funny.

Maybe the reason most of the bloggers on this site agree that Blago was up to his elbows in dirty politics is because, it seems, he was! The Feds have been investigating him and have caught him on tape, and the State's Attorney's office and a cast of others are rallying to give him his day in court. The House has started Impeachment proceedings. None of this would be going on if there was not some form of evidence to back it up and there seems to be an abundance of it. What part of that do you not 'get', fake Barack?
I know you have a tough time staying on topic, what with your anti-religion propaganda and your cynical Santa bashing and your after-life ramblings, but none of that has anything to do with our Governor's current situation, does it? I know you think highly of yourself and that's good. I really hope you learn that white space is your friend and I hope Santa brings you filters for Christmas.
Happy Holidays!

BHO--why is it your job to brainwash us about our faith choices and brainwash us into being agnostic, whatever that is supposed to be, the faith and religion of those that choose to be narrow and live only in the physical world?

Be strong, BHO and realize that sharing faith and spirituality with others, belonging to a community that cares and worships and upholds each other and helps those in the community that are disadvantaged is a choice we make because we feel joyful to be a part of something beyond what you can see in front of your face. It's a rewarding and enriching place for many of us to be and we welcome and support this community we are a part of with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. Choose what you want for yourself, but don't tell me or others how to think or feel or what to believe.

Believe it or not, babe...we all can think, conclude, decide, feel and be whatever we would like, without being controlled or admonished by the likes of you.

You are here and arguing for the sake of seeing your words and statements on this blog, stirring the pot because you have no other sense of self, no depth of soul and need that kind of identity to feel you are valid in this world? I will pray that you find peace for yourself, and that you may quit worrying about me, I am doing just fine...peachy, in fact :-)

One Who Values You,

The laws you posted clearly stated Blagjevich can not give a State Position in exchange for campaign contributions.

Even though the citizens of Illinois vote for the US Senator, it is a Federal position paid for by the Federal Govt. Thus the laws you posted do not apply to this particular case.

Illinois citizens vote for Illinois Senators and Representatives that serve in Springfield. Those are state positions and the laws you posted would apply to them.

I don't like what Blagojevich did....but that does not mean he broke state law. His highly renowned attorney Mr. Ed Jenson also stated Blagojevich did not break any laws, is not resigning, and will fight this in court.

Most of the bloggers on this site, are agreeing with each other like a herd of sheep. They were brainwashed by a 15 minute speech of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald just like they allow their churches, mosques and synagoges to brainwash them that they will one day be in Heaven with 72 virgins provided to each one of them. It is very sad how gullibe our society is. Even the adults in this society still believe in Santa Claus.

You should be thankful I will be your President. I am not into brainwashing. I am going to teach you guys to think and especially to think out of the box. In Sweden where people think, 93% dropped organized religion and now are agnostic. A few other European countries have reached the point of 90% agnositic. Most European Countries are over half agnositc despite religion once being stronger there than in the USA. We are usually a few decades behind Europe. In a couple of decades most Americans will understand what I am talking about.

Can anyone of you prove to me Heaven exists? Can anyone prove to me there is any after life? Oh, you all want me to have faith and believe! OK, well I want you to all have faith and believe we somehow all evolved from amebas and became humans! Both require quite humongous leaps of faith and are not believable. We simply don't have the answers and should be brave enough to accept the unknown in this world and not fabricate this Santa Claus stuff for adults.

Let us be strong my fellow Americans. Stop using these relgious institutions as crutches. Religion is almost the source of all wars and evil in the history of world. Without religion, we would be living in a civilized and peaceful world where we would not throw shoes at each other because of our disagreements. Please have faith that everything will be alright and above all keep your shoes on. Thank you!

Getting off on a technicality is not viewed in a good light! Don't forget about those who will evaluate him in the final analysis. You were the one that brought up common sense before. Your examples seem to indicate that the attorney got off someone who should not have. You say you don't know if he is guilty but the undertone of what the attorney did "get him off" means they were guilty.

You can not excuse a behavior because they are not paid enough. Gee Mr. Judge I would not have to steal if I had a better paying job. It won't work! One might understand what motivated the person to do the behavior but it is not excusable. Big difference!

The position is voted upon by the people of the STATE & not a FEDERAL vote so talk about technicalities. The Governor is picking him & not the president!

The House voted unanimously (113-0) to begin impeachment proceeding against Blago and they are forming a committee to investigate allegations that he may have participated in criminal activity and abused his position as Governor. Unfortunately, they did not take away his ability to appoint Obama's successor and now they are adjourned until the second week in January.

One Who Values You,

If there was no hope that Blagojevich had a chance in court, Attorney Ed Jensen, would have told him so.

As you may or may not know Mr. Jensen is not a deal maker type of attorney. He is a trial attorney. Thus he is proceeding to trial. He got that rap artist off tons of charges that he abused children and had sex with them. Maybe the artist was guilty....maybe he was not! I don't know but he was found NOT GUILTY and walked. Not one person in Illinois believed he would be found NOT GUILTY. That is a recent case for you. We also had the Napergate Man case right here in Naperville where no one gave him a chance. Well, we all know what happened and it is senseless to repeat that story. Naperville Prosecutors were painting picture of the Napergate Man that was much worse than that being painted of Blagojevich. All I have been trying to state is we can not convict based on the 15 minue speech of a biased US ATTORNEY who is trying to further his career and own political ambitions and aspirations.

The same thing could happen in this case. Going to court is like playing Russion Roulette. Anything can happen!

You once again missed my point, Professor. The law you stated indicated it was unlawful for Blagojevich to give State Positions away for campaign contributions. Here Blagojevich is giving away a Federal Position and not a State Position for alleged campaign contributions.

The law is the law. A good attorney will rip the law apart and make sure the Feds obey every letter in the law. This may be a technicality that can get Blagojevich off as it states nothing in relevance of giving a US FEDERAL POSITION away. It is odd that a Governor can give away a FEDERAL POSITION but this is one of those exception cases where the Senator became President of the USA and the Governor was awarded this unique privelege of giving away his Senate Seat.

Please show me where it says he can not give away a FEDERAL POSITION away for campaign contributions. Again, what you posted twice only indicates he can not give away a STATE POSITION. A US SENATOR is paid by the Federal Government and not the STATE he represents. I am being technical, but that is what lawyers do and that is how they sometimes get their clients off serious charges such as may be the case here.

Again, it is my opinion, that Blagojevich was attempting to trade the Senate Seat for a seat on a Corporate Board for his wife or a Federal Position for himself when his governership ends. This is done all the time. Do you think an ordinary intelligent person like yourself, Professor, has a chance in a million of gettting this Senate Seat? Of course not! Why? Because you are probably not connected and have not raised enough campaign contributions for those in power.

If Rezko was not unconvered as being a criminal, Blagojevich would probably appoint him to be Senator or at least seriously consider him. Why? Because he raised millions of dollars of contributions for him over the years and Blagojevich would have owed him. But he got caught and he is out of the picture rotting in a jail cell!

If Blagojevich was clean and had a 90% popularity, I would have given him the Ambassadorship in Turkey that he wanted. It pays more than a Senator. It is apparent that Blagojevich has serious money problems and he was no longer able to govern as he was worried about his financail security. In the end all that mattered to him was a good paying job. He no longer cared about power. He told me once he would drive a garbage truck for Chicago as long as he got paid $275,000 which is the amount of money he needed to breakeven.

Paying a Governor $177,000 is chump change. Governor Sarah Palin needed a wardrobe that cost 150k alone. How do you expect this governor to pay for his wardrobe, that of his elitist fussy and cussy wife plus that of their 2 children with the little money he was earning. He had 0 savings. He has to pay the expenses of his Chicagoland home. Yes, he is provided a home in Springfield but most governors find it difficult to live there with 90% of Illinois population in the NE part of the state.

I make a little more than the Governor and I can barely afford to live in a little above average home in Chicago. By the time I pay my taxes, health insurace and car insurance, I have less than 100k left. And I only spend a few thousand dollars on clothes for the entire family unless I want to dip into my campaign money which I never have like those Republicans do.

Let us pay the Governor a little more so he won't spend his life worrying about survival and entertaining thoughts of theft. The former City Manager of Naperville with his police pension was making one and a half times what the Governor is making. As a police officer, Mr. Marshall was making over $113,000 per year. Where is the equity here? Who has more responsibility? There is no rational as to how we pay our public officials. Most School Administrators make more than our Governor and retire by the time they are his age with pensions greater than what he makes.

When you underpay you invite trouble. When you overpay you invite trouble. This state is not only the most corrupt state in the union it is the most screwed up state in the union. When those public employees all start retiring and demanding those 75% pensions and the money will not be there, you will finally all understand what I am talking about.

I am glad I am out of Illinios, the most corrupt state in the Union. Illinios can not print money and must balance the budget just like your City of Naperville. As President, I will be earning a salary of 400k and a nice pension. Unlike the States, we can print all the money we want so I know my salary and pension will be good as gold.

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PS.Sorry, I could not review this post before posting. Must run to a staff meeting. Hopefully there are not to many misspelled words.

I don't agree that posting under the tags 'Anonymous', 'Pussy Cat' or another vague name make someone a "wimp" or lacking in common sense or accountability as BHO/Ken claims in one of his earlier posts. Some people don't want to put their OWN name in print, and that is their choice. 'Anonymous' or 'One who knows' or another obscure name is harmless and doesn't detract from the ideas or opinions they have to share.

In my book, what makes someone appear to be a "wimp" lacking common sense and accountability is defined as someone who assumes the identity of another person to say things they probably would not say under their own name, yet they want to be sensational enough to draw attention to themselves. It's ironic that BHO writes such outrageous posts under the assumed name of the president-elect and then gets upset when folks don't take him seriously. At one point he even instructed Moderator Chris to 'make' posters answer him! I think it's a waste of time to deal with the childishness on a blog site. If the intention was humor or satire, don't quit your day job, BHO. And Santa Claus? Now HE was funny!

BHO blah blah blah...if you can't run with the big dogs...you know the rest.

BTW...this is not SNL and you are not as funny as much as you are a troll.

Barack Hussein Obama on December 15, 2008 6:48 PM
Bloggers,

Since Host Chris is not stopping the personal attacks, I will no longer respond to personal attacks in an effort to stop them.

______________________________________

Classic: This from the same guy who on another blog posted the following:
Barak Hussein Obama on December 7, 2008 1:18 PM

I believe all religion is based on brainwashing and unfounded faith. It is for the weak who need a crutch to get through life.

So I guess the personal attacks are bad only when you are on the receiving end? Apparently when you deliver them they are ok? Good riddance puppy dog!

Bloggers,

Since Host Chris is not stopping the personal attacks, I will no longer respond to personal attacks in an effort to stop them.

I am simply here to discuss the issues, debate and respond to bloggers who are serious about tackling the subject matter. Also trying to have some fun as they do on Saturday Night Live with politicians. I am sorry so many of you here don't have the slightest bit of wit or dry humor. How sad?

I will no longer lower myself to those who believe in personal attacks. I am simply not going to lower myself and respond. I can find much better things to do with my time than respond to personal attacks. What a waste of time as it produces nothing for society and its well being.

Ya I agree...I meant out of what is likely to be picked...not like if the world was a perfect place. Well I agree it is hard to see anyone now. Who isn't going to question something. That is why I was actually asking to see what people thought.

BHO...whose common sense? What is common to one person is based on the environment they grow up in. For some in this country common sense is lynching by the old definition. Perhaps you forgot the modern day lynching of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper TX? Now I'm not saying that one should not attempt to see the idea of the message but when one is unsure there is no problem with asking for clarification. It is so much better than making assumptions. I'd rather someone ask then assume I mean something I don't.

I also agree...unless you are using your real first & last name, what does it matter. It doesn't matter to me who says what. I just like to hear what others say to see if I agree or disagree. The name given does not influence whether I read it, judge it differently etc. If I normally do not agree with someone, no matter what name is given & I do with a new post, then I do. If I don't agree then I'll let you know. Never seemed to have that problem! HA! My parents will probably tell you I did from day one! HA! I do know that some will do the opposite though & that is sad & a very good reason then not to provide any name.

Has anyone on here suggested who they would like to fill the seat? That might be interesting? See this is the idea. If Blago is selling a seat to the highest bidder he is not looking out for the best interest of the people. He is looking out just for himself! Thus, he is no longer (at least!) serving the people of IL as he should. He is in the business of making money and that really makes me wonder how else he is.

Barak...it says "UNLAWFUL" in the ethics language I posted from the website!

From that same link from the state...

Penalties
Penalties for violations of ethics-related laws, rules and policies by state employees are dependent upon the specific circumstances. Penalties may include administrative action up to and including termination of employment. In addition, the Executive Ethics Commission may levy administrative fines -- and illegal acts, such as bribery or theft, may result in criminal prosecution.

Is this a bribe, one can say he was not asking (yet!) that the position would then require the person to vote as he wanted but what impression does it leave? The seat is to the highest bidder. But it is you give me this & I'll let you...to me that is a bribe like a kid saying to another...if you give me your lunch money I'll let you live!

Personally, I don't think the Gov should replace the Federal seat! I think the person who left should & in the absence of that (say due to death) the party leader! I mean the Gov can put in who he wants right, so that may not be the same party who was in the seat is that right? Or do I have that wrong? That doesn't seem right to me. What do I know though! Hell, hold a special election & let the people decide again. Maybe we need to look into this & change the laws...oh wait...didn't we just vote that down. Hmmm...

Barack Hussein Obama,
Your "Pussy Cat" is no different from you, Anonymous is the name they use. And yes there are a couple anonymous here. Take a look at yourself. How many BHOs do we need. Chillax BHO you'll busta vein. Seems to me your about 5' 2" with a big guy attitude trapped in a small child like body. Blogging here makes you feel big and we understand that. Everyone needs an outlet. I remember when I would tie a towel around myself and pretend I was Superman.
Sound familiar?

Pussy Cat,

Since you are lacking in comprehension as Ken often says, what I meant is my daughters could hang him in a court of law. Hang him to dry!

I said that because my sources tell me he tried to buy my former Senate Seat for 1.5 million dollars in campaign contributions to Blagojevich.

We are in the United States, pussy cat, not in Saddam country where lynchings and hangings were routine and acceptable without trials. We have courts of law where we have to convict before we execute the sentence whatever it may be.

Use common sense when reading and try to read in context.

Now get a name! I will call you pussy cat until then.

Yes, we are all Anonymous here but our handles can be held accountable. You can not be held accountable because many wimps like yourself share the same Anonymous handle.

Thus you can debate, make a fool of yourself, and come back under another handle as if you were a Virgin Pussy Cat. I believe in what I say, so I stick with the same handle so I can be held accountable to Host Chris and the bloggers who like to debate without name calling.

In the future, try to put your thinking hat on before you write....meow...meow....and chow chow for now!!!

THANKS SANTA!
Nice to see you take some time away from your busy schedule to spread some well needed cheer. I hope you have a lump of coal for BHO, he has worked very hard for it.

P.S. Don't eat his cookies!

Santa Claus,

Many people enjoy reading, humor, satire and a good laugh in this Holiday Season. That is my gift to the people of Naperville.

What have you done for the people of Naperville, my dear Santa Claus? Nothing!

Why don't you try to bring us a gift from the North Pole of 11 million dollars so we can plug our operating budget deficit.

And while you are up there grab another 70 million so we can balance the police and fire pension funds deficits in order that our brave police officers and dedicated fire fighters and their families can have a nice Christmans without worrying about their future retirement benefits.

Talk is cheap, Santa Claus! Use your powers and do something to help the citizens and public safety employees of Naperville during this joyous Christmas Season. Allahu Akbar and Happy Eid Al Adha to all my fellow Muslims in Naperville who do not celebrate Christmas! And Happy Holidays to all my Jewish Friends! And last but not least Happy Holidiays to my fellow Agnostic citizens of Naperville who believe in God just like the rest of you and pray in the privacy of their homes without all the massive overhead of those monumental religious buildings landscaping our beloved town!

Barack Hussein Obama on December 15, 2008 3:28 PM

You had over 2 hours from the time Host Chris rejected your posting for obviously crossing the line and this is the best you could do? I'm disappointed puppy dog. It also seems humorous that you criticize me for being anonymous and then you post as BHO? I think your exact words were, "Be man or a woman and show you can be accountable for what you say by using a unique handle". No problem if it's too confusing I'll be "anonymous one". If being BHO makes you accountable with your cutesy handle, then I think you have some serious personality issues to resolve.

While I was trying to skip your previous posts I came across the following line, I wonder what you meant by it and if you could shed some light on it?

My 2 young daughters could probably hang Jesse Jackson Jr. You can look at the guy and tell he is guilty. (Barack Hussein Obama on December 14, 2008 5:17 AM). (I'm surprised this one made it past the editors.)

What do you mean by hang Jesse jackson Jr.?

Barack,
I see you when you're sleeping.
I know when you're awake.
I know if you've been bad or good, so be GOOD for goodness sake!

Give a gift to the people of Naperville and take some well deserved time off! You have worked your fingers to the bone and deserve a break. Watch some holiday specials! Buy some gifts! Give your time to those who would appreciate it. We all know you have plenty of that and at this time of year it could be so much better spent. Happy Holidays!

Pussy Cat,
If the best you can do for a handle is Anonymous, I have nothing of substance to say to you or anyone else who uses Anonymous. Be man or a woman and show you can be accountable for what you say by using a unique handle. I would suggest PUSSY CAT for your handle since you seem to be a real coward.

Plus, what you said was totally incoherent from a legal point of view and would not warrant a response by a lawyer like myself anyway. I went to Harvard University and was the President of my Class so I know what I am talking about. Being found not guilty on a technicality is as good as being found not guilty based on the preponderance or totality of the evidence depending on whether it is a civil or criminal trial...they both work, you ignorant pussy cat!

The last time the Napergatians smeared an Anonymous fellow, maybe yourself or someone like yourself, for claiming Host Ted did not say this blog site had 100,000 views and challenging them 4 times, he ran away like a pussy cat after former Host Ted popped up to back the Napergatians's comments.

It seems like you could be this same Anonymous Pussy Cat who flees when he is wrong. Thus I have nothing to say to your likes. Maybe I should throw my pair of shoes at you but I would not miss like that punk reporter. I would smack you right between the eyes like you were a bullseye.(I am not serious, Host Chris, but being humorous based on the latest news events....just having a litte fun.)

In the future please refrain from calling your President a puppy dog. I am not like Bush. I will not stand there and have citizen journalists throw their shoes at me. I will throw my size 11 shoes right back. Insult for insult my Kenyan Muslim Dad once taught me. An eye for an eye. I am not going to turn my other cheek like my Kansas Christian Mom taught me. Obviously, that does not work! Just ask President Bush!

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Host Chris,

I know calling anyone a pussy cat is not professional but since you allowed Anonymous to call me a puppy dog, I think you should let this post slide. I deleted the one word I believe you found disturbing and I agree with you that it crossed the lines for acceptability required for a family style blog. Thank you!

Barack Hussein Obama on December 15, 2008 3:03 AM

Blagojevich has a very good attorney and he will get him off on a technicality.
________________________________________________

Puppy dog, I recall you writing previously that you have read the entire indictment from Fitzgerald and based on your careful reading there is no case to be made?

If this is so, why would you say he will get off on a technicality? If the case is so feeble and unmerited he should get off after a full evaluation of the evidence - not a technicality? No?

One Who Values You, I agree with your point of view and you make some very good arguments. We (taxpayer) don't have to accept dishonesty in our state because 'it happens'. It shouldn't be allowed and those that do the crime(s) should face the consequences. It will be interesting to see how Blago attempts to defend himself against the audio tapes of him. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, he offers up in order to get a deal. We may see a house of cards tumble down.

One Who Values You,

"A state employee cannot promise anything of value related to state government."

Blagojevich has a very good attorney and he will get him off on a technicality. He was not promising anything of value related to STATE position.

He was offering a FEDERAL Senate Seat for campaign contributions...in my opinion totally legal as he was offering a FEDERAL position and not a STATE position which your Ethics Act exempts or does not cover. Also, what you quoted is an Ethics Act and not a Criminal Act. There may be some wiggle room for Blagojevich to be found innocent of criminality even though he appears to be unethical like almost all politicians with almost no exceptions.

I feel strongly that he should not be sent to jail to rot for doing what almost every politician in Illinios has been doing for nearly 200 years. Let us censure him like we censured Dick Furstenau. Let us have mercy on him the first time around and reprimand him with a warning. After all it was just an ethics violation that only applied to State positions and not FEDERAL positions. No damage has been done yet as my seat has not been awarded to anyone yet.

Maybe, a deal can be made in order to allow me to select my successor. If such a deal can be made, I can promise Blagojevich I will pardon him on my second day in office in the event he is indicted and/or convicted. With a very good attorney, it is never over until the old lady is done singing. She has not even began yet!

He was trading a seat for 500K I believe. What of the following does this not apply to? He was promising a position in state government for a political campaign donation! UNLAWFUL!

Prohibited Offer or Promise (from Ethics Act, Section 5-30)
"A state employee cannot promise anything of value related to state government, including but not limited to positions in state government, promotions, or salary increases, in consideration for a contribution to a political committee, political party or other entity that has as one of its purposes the financial support of a candidate for elective office.
For example, it is unlawful for a state employee to offer an action by the state agency, or to offer someone a state job or to offer an appointment to a state board, or to offer the award of a contract, in exchange for a political campaign donation. It is also unlawful, for example, for a state employee, to offer a salary increase or promotion to another state employee in exchange for such a donation."

One Who Values You,

Blagovjevich was not looking for a bribe or cash under the table. He was only looking for campaign contributions that would be recorded publicly for all to see in the open with full transparency. He was also seeking a favor in return. In other words if I can help you get a Senate Seat, please help me get a seat on a Corporate Board so when I retire, I can support my wife and 2 little girls. Is that a "crime" worthy of life imprisonment? Common Professor! This horse type trading has been going on since our State was founded. Abraham Lincoln would be rolling in his grave if he knew a US Attorney was acting with such heavy handedness over politicians trading favors and positions.

As far as AIPAC pumping our Congressmen with campaign contributions that is an annual event and ongoing. It is not something of the past. Every year this racist apartheid State of Israel is handed 3 bllion dollars of USA taxpayer money. Nothing is being done because AIPAC bribes all Republicans and Democrats equally....they have everyone in their pocket except for one Congressman from California. He is of Lebanese/Arab descent and refused to take the AIPAC money.

As a US Senator, I will admit I got all caught up in taking this AIPAC money because it seemed to be the norm. Everyone else was taking it and rubber stamping the 3 billion of aid to Israel with no questons asked. After seeing what happened to Blagojevich even for a lesser crime, I regret taking this bribe money from AIPAC. I apologize to the American people for taking this bribe money. It will not happen again. That is promise I will keep, my fellow and dear Americans.

I am ending business as usual in the US Congress once I am sworn in as your president on January 20, 2009. I am going to keep my campaign promises and seek CHANGE and a NEW AMERICA. A better America! A more honest America! An America we can all love and be proud of! May God Bless you all and the great United States of America.

You will find what I posted (laws) on the state website & we actually have to go to that site I believe to take the test. Teachers are not even suppose to accept any substantial gifts at Christmas time or the end of the years...which I agree & don't agree. I mean I've heard in the past of some getting $50 or 100 gift cards. Sometimes it is from the room mothers collecting from all kids but still. I mean to not let the kids give little things like ornaments...come on but it can get out of hand so that is the idea with our politians. Where do you draw the line though is the idea!

Lobbyist is another issue & one we should address later but different than paying for a senate seat. If you want to say that has been done before then it should have been taken care of before but if it was not that does not say we can't start now. We can't always do things about the past but we can make our future what we want it. Many of us might like to change some things in our past, the best thing is to learn from that idea an make sure it influences our future in a postive way. To say it is done all the time does not make it right. Like the student example I gave on cheating. What is wrong is wrong & take care of it one step at a time. First the gov then who is next. I don't think anyone thinks he is the only one who has ever done this or is currently doing something like this.

One Who Values You,

I have been trying to stay on point. I was giving an example of Federal Corruption since the Patrick Fitzgerald works for the Feds and is showing Double Standards.

Repeating, if play for pay is wrong, why do we allow the State of Israel through its Lobbyist AIPCA to donate to Congressmen and Senators 50 million dollars annually and suddenly they issue the racist Apartheid State of Israel 3 billion dollars of aid. Are you going to tell me there is no correlation here? Other countries who do not feed Congressman through lobbyists get 0 to nothing in aid!

Please address this issue, Professor? You seem quite intelligent and I really appreciated the campaign laws you dug up. By the time I was done reading them my head was honestly spinning. I do not think I would ever feel comfortable accepting another contribution in my life! Let us be real and understand that anyone who makes a large contribution expects something in return. Can we agree on that?

Please address AIPAC buying our Senators and Congressmen with their tainted money. It is relevant as I think all these campaign contributions for favors must stop in every state and the Federal Governemnt needs to lead by example!

Thank you!

Caroline: I'll think you'll find that the solicitaton and offer is a crime. The fact money did not change hands is not an element of the offense. Of course if money did change hands, thats an element of a further extension of the crime. Think of this whole thing as street hooking. (It kind of is to some extent) The hooker makes an offer. The UC/agt says how much? A sum is mentioned by hooker. UC agrees. Bingo-crime is completed. Money need not change hands. All thats needed is an offer. I believe in the text of the federal affadavit you will easily find that the offer to exchange the seat for monetary consideration and other favors did originate with Blago. His only chance for defense: get the tapes suppressed. Read the affadavit. How will his own words not be used against him? The bottom line: he needs to cooperate with the FED, sing like Rezko and lets see where this leads. Its YEARS of stuff Blago has been involved in. Wonder about Obama yes but he may know some songs that go back years involving a mighty chorus of famous politicians and more.

I totally agree with the Sun Editor...and what I was saying before about someone say everyone speeds/has a ticket with the police reduction posts. Same thing here! It is called False Consensus & my students do it all the time "Everyone cheats on exams" etc. No, everyone does not. It is just a defense mechanism to try to justify that one has done it themselves.

Mr. Barak...stay on topic...all the other topics are for another category of posts.

Dear Mr. Barak!

Yes you do know! You can not play an Oliver North & say "I don't recall" either. You know how I know you know? You like ALL state employees had to take a state test by a certain date or you could not go to work until you did!

BHO, your comment here of "To stop the flow of YOUR MONEY to the APARTHIED RACIST ZIONIST STATE OF ISRAEL" makes me feel like your real name probably is Tawfiq.

One Who Values You and All My Fellow Americans,

Thanks for posting all the rules, ordinaces and laws pertaining to campaign contributions. To be honest with you even though I was in the Illinois Congress, I did not know about half those laws. I think I understand why almost every Governor in Illinios gets convicted. I am glad I am out of Illinios Politics.

Just as I suspected the campaign laws are so far reaching, the Feds can nail anyone they want. All they need is a hard on for someone to motivate them. All power hungry prosecutors are usually motivated by busting high profile high power government officials.

Basially you need to collect campaign contibutions to get elected but if you collect any more than 75 dollars for a dinner, you pretty much committed a crime. Let us use some common sense. No one is giving anyone 50k without expecting anything in return. No one just gives money away because they think someone is handsome or pretty.

Those officials at Children's Hospital were trying to cheat. They wanted to get more help than other hospitals and offered a 50,000 dollar contribution in return for a 8 million dollar dollar hand-out. The hospital made a good deal and got cold feet and did not deliver its share of the deal. How shameless and unethical of this hospital to attempt to buy this kind of favoritism for 50k. CEO Pamela Davis showed class by not paying to play. She could have paid 50k and gotten herself a hospital in Plainfied. She did not! God Bless Her! Those guys at Children's Hospital should be jailed next to Ryan's jail cell.

Do we play to pay in the Federal Government? Of course we do. But I am going to stop it. Since 1948, Israel and AIPAC have been bribing our Senators and Representatives with nearly 50,000,000 dollars of annual contributions. In return this racist, zionist Apartheid State receives 3,000,000,000 dollars annually. Once it receives this 3 billion, the State of Israel skims 50 million off the top and gives it to AIPAC whom funnels it backs to the Congressmen who in turn vote Isreal another 3 billion. It is a vicious cycle of pay to play and none of you guys blogging are complaining. Why! Is Israel off limits? Are you not brave enough to complain? Are you all brainwashed that this is somehow acceptable? Do you believe in double standards?

Wake up my fellow country mem and women! Wake up my honorable friends! Wake up my brave and courageous citizens? Let us all work to stop this pay to play which is much worse at the Federal level than in Illinios. Do you guys think Israel would be given 3 billion if the Congress was not bribed with campaign contributions? Many countries deserve the money more than Israel. Israel is a tiny wealthy state that gets more money than all other countries in Asia, Austrailia and Europe combined. Why! They know how to play "pay to play politics." They know how to play the game. Where is US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald when you really need him to stop the pilfering of 3 billion of our hard earned tax payer money?!?

Do you my fellow citizens think, I come on here to make things up. This is all true. I am here to ask for you support so we can stop the pilferage of the taxpayers.

As far as Illinois, of course it is the most corrupt state in the Union. Only the Federal Govt. is more corrupt. But Illinois is corrupt becasue the laws are very vague, gray and confusing. Anyone on this blog site except for maybe this chick Liz could convict an Illinois politician. My 2 young daughters could probably hang Jesse Jackson Jr. You can look at the guy and tell he is guilty. He needs to lawyer up and zip those lips of his. It is as if his Dad never advised him that loose lips sink ships. He is already sinking so it may be to late to zip him up or save him. I have not thought about whether I would be willing to pardon him. Probably, I will, because I have a big heart. Plus his Dad was crying rivers at Grant Park in Chicago when I was elected. I guess he wanted to be President and failed twice so he must of seen himself in me. For that, I will pardon his son.

Yes, I was once potentially corrupt not because I wanted to be but because the maze of confusing laws are impossible to obey. I know how Illinois works. I can safely say that I was once corrupt because the Statute of Limitations expired on my situation and the Feds can't touch me. I am immune. I am thankfully out of Illinois politics so I can not help you clean your corrupt system which leads to corrupt politicians. Sorry!

But I promise you all when I am sworn in as your President next month, that I will clean the Federal mess. I will start with Israel which is not only a racist Apartheid State, but the most corrupt state in the world. Recently Prime Minister Olmert of Israel was indicted for taking bribes. All you have to do is read the liberal Haaretz to get the juicy details. You will learn that former prime minister Ariel Sharon was blamed for the slaughter of 1500 Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon 25 years ago. And Bush called him a Man of Peace. No wonder his popularity is only a touch higher than Blagojevich at 8%. I think I read it was down to 13%. Dah, you support a racist state like Israel and of course your popularity will eventually approach zero.

The Republicans don't seem to understand we are in the internet age. Americans are going on the internet and reading foreign European newspapers that are not afraid to tell the truth. There is no AIPAC in Europe so they say it as it is. AIPAC in America indirectly controls the media which hides the truth from the American people regarding the injustices performed by the State of Isael against the Palestinian subjects in its illegally controlled occupied territories. I am not saying that. This is a United Nations declaration. Please reveiw Resolutions 242 and 338 of the UN Charter.

Anyway, I hope you all help me in my fight to staighten out Congress and the Senate. I will be appointing US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as a Special Prosecutor to investigate every single Federal Elected official who ever took a penny from Israel or its subsidiary AIPAC. I believe when the investigation is completed 535 Congressmen will all be inidicted without exception. I suspect all will be convicted under my no nonsense administration.

I will run the country as a dictatorship for the few months after your Federal Elected Officials are indicted and before I order new special elections. It will be costly to this country to have this special election but I am tired of this 3 billion dollars of taxpayer money being sqaundered to Israel annually and depriving our own neighborhoods and schools from benefitting from this hard earned USA taxpayer money that is being given away due to a sham being played on the American people. Enough is enough!!

My fellow Americans, I hope I can count on your support to end corruption in our House of Representatives and Senate. To stop campaign contributions from AIPAC that buy votes in the United State Congress. To stop the flow of YOUR MONEY to the APARTHIED RACIST ZIONIST STATE OF ISRAEL.

Thank you for your support in electing me and let us proceed to get the job done. I plan on wasting no time to snap that umbilical cord to Isreal. Have faith in me! Believe in me! I will get the job done!

Ya...lets just wait...let it take as long as Nixon...lets just hope there is a another Deep Throat to slowly help others figure out the pieces to the puzzle after the fact.

And if you all think this is the only thing he did you I bet there are still some lovely mortgage deals still available.

Ken: I thought that response sounded like it belonged to me!

Caroline: There are many instances in which law enforcement will "jump the gun" and make arrests when they have compelling evidence that indicates a crime is being planned and is imminent. Fitz indicated they felt this was one of those instances. It is not always prudent to wait to see if a crime does in fact occur, such as in murder for hire schemes. Police don't sit around and wait for someone to be killed, they arrest and charge the perpetrators before the crime is committed. Same here. They felt the gov was on a crime spree and wanted to stop him before he sold the senate seat, got the Trib editors fired, killed the funding for Children's Memorial Hosp., etc. etc. I don't really care if Blago goes to prison or not, or is found guilty or not, as his political career is now effectively over, and it should be. The tapes speak for themselves. Just like Ryan, he conspired to use his office for personal financial and political gain, and the very intent of such acts indicate that he is no longer fit for public office.

At the very least, he should be suspended with pay while all this works its way through the courts. I don't know if there is such a provision for governors, but to allow him to continue to govern and possibly continue his unethical and illegal behavior is intolerable to any reasonable person.

By Naperville Sun editors on December 12, 2008 9:56 PM
I've gotta admit, Mary, I'm surprised to hear anyone defending Blago. If it would be anyone I thought it would be his political friends, but even they have deserted him. Apparently some people don't consider wiretapped conversations to be evidence.

This statement did not sound objective as one would expect from editors. And the wiretapped conversations on their own do not demonstrate guilt.

Again, you need to investigate this Jesse Jackson comments.

Everyone has been saying "It happens all the time" like it makes it ok then? Lots of things "happen all the time" but it does not make it right!

Someone said, no cash was given to him...ok so then if I am taped on the phone or they find an email that I tell a student I'll give you an A for $1,000 is it ok if I have not received the cash yet? You think I would not be fired?

There are ethics as a state employee: (More in link if you like to look)

http://www.etcc.il.gov/documents/Ethics_Reference.pdf

Political Contributions on State Property (from Ethics Act, Section 5-35)
"Political campaign contributions cannot be intentionally solicited, accepted, offered or made on state property by public officials, by state employees, by candidates for elective office, by persons required to be registered under the Lobbyist Registration Act, or by any officers, employees, or agents of any political organization. These provisions do not apply to the residences of state officers and employees, except that no fundraising events shall be held at residences owned by the state or paid, in whole or in part, with state funds.
State property includes, for example, buildings or portions thereof that are owned or exclusively leased by the state. Therefore, it is unlawful for a state employee to give or receive money for a candidate for public office while in state owned or leased office space or on state property."

"Ban on Gifts from Prohibited Sources (from Ethics Act, Section 10-10, 10-15 and 10-30)
In many instances, it is unlawful for state employees to accept gifts that are offered to them in their capacity as state employees or in the conduct of state business. Gifts may include, but are not limited to such things as free tickets to sporting events, cash, special discounted merchandise or services, food, drink and travel expenses.
A state employee cannot intentionally solicit or accept a gift from certain individuals or entities that are defined by law as a “prohibited source.” It is also unlawful for an employee’s spouse or immediate family member living with him/her to accept a gift from a prohibited source. The following are prohibited sources and therefore, a state employee cannot generally accept a gift from:
• A person or entity (a business, for example) seeking official action from the state employee or the employee’s state agency.
• A person or entity that does business or seeks to do business with the state employee or the employee’s state agency.
• A person or entity that conducts activities that are regulated by the state employee or the employee’s state agency.
• A person or entity that has interests that may be substantially affected by the performance or non-performance of the state employee.
• A person or entity that is a registered lobbyist.
There are 12 specific exceptions to this ban on gifts from prohibited sources, including:
• Opportunities, benefits and services available to the general public on the same conditions.
• Anything for which the employee or appointee pays market value.
• A lawful contribution under the Election Code or the Ethics Act or activities associated with a fundraising event in support of a political organization or candidate.
• Educational materials and missions (see note below *).
• Travel expenses for a meeting to discuss state business (see note below **).
• A gift from a relative.
• Anything provided on the basis of personal friendship, unless the employee has reason to believe that, under the circumstances, the gift was provided because of the official position of the employee and not because of the personal friendship.
• Food or drink that does not exceed $75 per calendar day.
• Food, drink, lodging and transportation related to outside business or employment activities, if the benefits are customarily provided to others in similar circumstances and are not offered because of the recipient’s official position.
• Intra-governmental or inter-governmental gifts (e.g. gifts between agency employees or between government employees).
• Bequests, inheritances, and other transfers at death.
• Any item or items from any one prohibited source during any calendar year that has a cumulative total value of less than $100."

Prohibited Offer or Promise (from Ethics Act, Section 5-30)
"A state employee cannot promise anything of value related to state government, including but not limited to positions in state government, promotions, or salary increases, in consideration for a contribution to a political committee, political party or other entity that has as one of its purposes the financial support of a candidate for elective office.
For example, it is unlawful for a state employee to offer an action by the state agency, or to offer someone a state job or to offer an appointment to a state board, or to offer the award of a contract, in exchange for a political campaign donation. It is also unlawful, for example, for a state employee, to offer a salary increase or promotion to another state employee in exchange for such a donation."

Facts on December 13, 2008 1:32 PM
The situation about the Willis children. A truck driver had a muffler that was falling off his trucks. Other motorists were trying to point out the problem including yelling out their windows. The truck driver could not speak ENGLISH.

__________________________________

Facts, you are close, but the object wasn't a muffler but a metal brace that fell off the truck. Also, since traffic was going in excess of 60 mph I'm not sure how effective people rolling down their windows and yelling to the driver would be? Whether in english or spanish have you ever tried doing that on the Tri-State tollway? The license for a truck driver apparently requires some english prophiciency (can't confirm?), but not so other drivers can yell instructions or point out mechanical defects!

The account of the accident below is from the Willis' book and are direct from Scott Willis. (I didn't even know they had a book)

"As far as the accident is concerned, I was looking at the road and was alert. Our little baby was behind us; Ben was behind us on the other side. In the back were the other four children; they were all buckled in. I saw the object (a metal brace, 6"x30", 30 lbs.). I thought it was one of those blocks that maybe came off a flatbed truck. The car in front of me swerved, and I knew I couldn't miss hitting the object. I thought if I took it on the tire I might roll the car. It was a split-second decision.

"When we hit the object, the rear gas tank exploded, taking the car out of control. I was able to grip the wheel and take the car out of the slide. When we were sliding and the flames were coming around the seat, it was a shock--a surprise--like, 'What is this?' It was just roaring flames coming up on both sides. I was yelling to get out of the car. Janet and I had to consciously put our hands into the flames to unbuckle the seat belts and reach for the door handles.

"Janet fell out the door while the car was still moving. Benny was in the midst of the burning; his clothes were mostly burned off by the time he got out. The five youngest children, who had been asleep, died instantly. No sound was heard by Janet or me as we struggled to get out of the van. An unknown man took his shirt off his back to soak Benny's wounds, and another beat out the burning clothes on Janet's back. Benny died in intensive care around midnight."

Caroline, oddly enough, you share the same idiocyncracies in writing style, spelling, and timing, along with point of view as BHO, Gary, and all the other alters. Verrrrrrry interesting!

My Dear Fellow Americans,

I have been busy making more appointments to my Cabinet and Administration.

I have read the 75 page complaint out of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office. I found nothing incriminating.

Basically, it is all about politicians trading campaign contributions for furthering their political careers. This happens in every state of the Union and even at the Federal Level. No bribe could be found in the entire 75 pages.

Have no fear! Within one year of being sworn in I will terminate US Attorney PK along with 11 others in order to look impartial. If you recall, Bush terminated 12 US Attorneys at a time also...and he got away with it. I will also get away with it too and teach this PF the lesson of his life about how politics is played.

Blagojevich should not resign. Being the fool he is, he may resign.
However, he has got a great attorney and even if he is convicted, I will pardon him. End of story!

Host Chris,

Those tapes don't mean anything. They could be altered. Things could have been taken out of context. There is nothing compelling unitl a jury issues its verdict.

I think our Barack on this site has been very informative as to how back room politics work. I think he is right when he says this pay for play has been going on for decades. The play for pay has all been about campaign contributions. There has been no bribe made. There has been no bag of cash put in Blagojevich's back pocket.

All this is going to make a huge difference. I think Blagojevich will be found innocent. The feds panicked and jumped the gun before they had the goods on him. No money has been exchanged.

You guys can cut this Barack guy down all you want, but as far as I am concerned he makes the most sense by far. Where does it say that one can't write pretending to be someone else on this blog site? At least he is different than most and gets his point across better.

As far I am concerned he is not looking for any more attention than anyone else here. He is using a fake name just like the rest of us except for Mr. Higgins, so he can not possibly be getting any attention. The only other exception my be Ken who is a lengend in his own mind.

The situation about the Willis children. A truck driver had a muffler that was falling off his trucks. Other motorists were trying to point out the problem including yelling out their windows. The truck driver could not speak ENGLISH.

The muffler came off the truck, got wedged under the Willis van by the gas tank, the gas tank exploded and the six children died.

The truck driver bought his CDL through the Illinois Secretary of STate while Ryan was in charge. A minimum level of English proficiency is a requirement.

Is Blago guilty?

As of tody, the answer is no. My clear point, we need to let the American System play itself out.

And I am not alone. A major organization quoted in another newspaper indicates that there is a concern, the link:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-oped1212crimedec12,0,7874931.story

We outlawed lynchings over a 100 years ago. Blago, no matter how unpolular he is, does not deserve to be lynched, particularly by the comments from the Sun Editors.

Now the details of Jesse Jackson's situation are coming out. Supporters of Jackson committed to raise $1 million if Jackson was appointed. It was JACKSON's offer, not Blago's request. And the campaign contributions have not occurred. Again, talk of a crime, but no binding action (does not even rise to the level of conspiracy--from what lawyers tell me).

And then the comment from Blago, that MAYBE he should appoint Jesse Jackson Jr. to spite Obama. Nothing wrong with that. Now his lawyers may come back and say the contribuations would be illegal. Then he would not have proceeded.

And people in Naperville should be grateful for Blago. The Chicago Democrats desparately want to increase OUR taxes to pay to them. Double the income tax, increase sales taxes accross the state to 10% and send the money to Cook County. The ONLY person stopping this effort is Blago. Not even our Republican representatives. They gave a one half percent increase in the sales tax of which HALF goes entirely to Chicago so they could get the other half.

The only reason that things aren't moving faster in Springfield is that Madigan and his gang want to grab and abuse the power. Just like they were trying to do with $700,000 behind Diane McGuire.

WAKE UP!!!!!!

What the?, I inadvertently addressed my reply to Glock 22, but I was replying to you. I agree that Ryan is guilty of squashing the investigation, but I strongly feel that Willis bears a lot of responsibility for what was a tragic freak accident.

It is interesting watching some of the national news comments on the Blagojevich situation. Many have pointed out that Lisa Madigan's move to the supreme court is as much of an abuse of power as Blagojevich was trying to pull. It took 10 years to convict Ryan for playing politics as usual; I wonder how long it will take to convict Blagojevich?

Gary, where have I stated that I think I am the moderator and host? I only volunteered to help Ted out, not to take over the site, and I did it out of the kindness of my heart to help out a very beleaguered Ted. I would have had to follow the same rules Chris is now, and therefore I would have had to let personal attacks like the one you just leveled at me go on.

To Naperville Sun Editors--

OK, I heard wrong. Thanks for keeping me honest!:)

Ken: Your response to glock 22 probably applies to me as well. I have forgotten the details of the accident, who was tailgating what, etc. But my basic premise remains the same. Of course Ryan wasn't pursued for murder charges, he didn't directly kill anyone. He, like Rod B., just "wanted to make money" and in doing so set the stage for this and other accidents to happen, endangering the very people he was suppose to be serving. I don't see Willis as a hypocrite. I have known many very devout people over the years and they do seem to spiritualize just about everything that happens, good or bad, as "God's will", so Willis saying this is no surprise. I also know the family in White Eagle who lost a child to drowning on Thanksgiving Day and hope to never experience the kind of hell they're going through. Trust me, no amount of money could ever replace one of my children, much less 6 of them.

What the? on December 12, 2008 10:18 PM

Agree completely with your post.

__________________________

Ken: I view the Willis incident as more mutually exclusive to Ryan's Governorship than a cause / effect. My issue with Ryan was his shutting down of the investigation that followed. If you lay all the blame on Mr. Willis that is your right, you usually cut to the chase on issues, but I'm with "What the ?" on this one and disagree with you.

__________________________________

anonymous on December 12, 2008 11:15 PM
I like the reference to Sybil! It does seem strange to have 3-4 blogs all 20 minutes apart with near identical writing styles.

________________________________________

Gary on December 13, 2008 2:03 AM

Your irony is not lost on me! You call out Liz for posting with just a single name and then ask for her first, middle and last name as if you have some method where you will investigate her. The ironic part is that you post under the name of "Gary" only?

_________________________________________

And as for the Barak wannabe, how about if we start referring to this person as "Puppy Dog" instead? A puppy dog is always looking for attention without any real focus or logic - they constantly chase their tails. The need for attention causes them to jump into everyone's business. Unfortunately giving this person the attention they crave will probably now lead to more rants!

I know both parties contain plenty of crooks and let me clarify for MIMI, I dislike politicians and political people (their minions). I don't like Republicans and especially dislike Democrats. Dan Walker was the last Democrat to EARN my vote. (Did give Lieberman $100 in his fight to retain his seat violating a cardinal rule: no money to politicians. They steal and extort enough. But the wife was in the boat with it too) By the way, in the last 35 years, 34 current or retired Chicago Aldermen have been sent to federal prison by the FED. And I thank the FED very much because there simply is no other mechanism to police government like prosecutors. Maybe they too don't always get it right or get every dirty politician but angry voters don't get the job done either. The migration of corrupt Chicago aldermen into county and state government is the reason for my concern about even Chicago aldermen. Lisa Madigan and her 852 rule or whatever its called may be a big precident setting mistate. Who wants to bet the Illinois Supremes say no, there is a legislative process in place to deal with this situation. MIMI-how about it? Lunch at Hugos? Mano y Mano? Ken: you and I agree basically about the Willis matter in terms of who is responsible for the deaths. Illinois is a comparative negligence state. That means % of liability which is always a crap shoot when a jury has to decide, especially a Cook County jury, where the Willis matter was tried as I recall. You are totally correct with your $100 million reasons comment. I think if you consider all negligent parties, my view is the owner and maintainer of the trailer is mostly responsible. The driver should have inspected his rig and heeded other warnings. As I recall the jury found the driver and his employer most liable. Once again, the truth is the last thing to enter most Cook County Curcuit Courts. But to insinuate that George Ryan is responsible for the deaths of those children because of this accident is a VERY popular opinion and is simply not a reasonable argument in my view. Nor is holding Mr. Willis responsible either. I don't know about the California matter and its Illinois licensed driver. Have driven the Grapevine in heavy fog and even having my Glock 22, 22C or 21 unloaded and in the trunk if needed would not have put my fears to rest. Trucks passing me at 65 and I couldn't see the front of my car. But 74 car piles ups out there are not because of phony driver licenses. They are because of negligent drivers. Ryan is in prison where he belongs because he is a crook, not a killer.

Bloggers have stated that Barack Hussein Obama dominated this thread. His first blog on this site was after 28 others posted. And his first post was nothing but about the subject matter. It is apparent he swayed off topic when he was forced to defend himself based on comments of others.

Actually some folks blogged more than him and yet he is accused of hijacking the thread.... I think it shows others are trying to dominate while Barack simply expresses his opinion in a satirical and humorous manner and moves on to bigger and better things.

Let us not forget the Napergatians were also accused of dominating for no other reason than also expressing their opinions.

Ken probably has more posts than all the Napergatinas combined in the last few weeks and no one ever acuses him of dominating. He even thinks he is the moderator and host combined. One time when Host Ted said he was pressed for time, Ken volunteered to take over this blog site....lol....he would have ran it in the ground just like his buddy Tim West ran his blog site into the ground and all the way to China!

Moderator Chris,
Of course I agree with you. But it is disturbing how so many people ganged up on Barack who was initially only discussing the subject matter as his first post reveals.

Sometimes, I feel you need to step in before disputes escalate.

I also think you should post IP numbers so bloggers are not in disbelief when a few people can disagree with them

Back on subject, I am really amazed that so many people in this State(not just this blog site) have convicted Blagojevich based on a 15 minute speech by a very biased prosecutor who wants to one day make a name for himself and be Attorney General of the USA.

I am a little surprised Moderator Chris that you don't remind your bloggers that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. You allow them to brainwash each other like a herd of cattle into believing he is guilty by not reminding them that our Constitution presumes he is innocent.

I would appreciate it if you would make this point to your bloggers. Maybe they will understand where the minority is coming from when they presume him innocent as the constitution demands. Liz can be excused as she managed to get her Masters Degree without ever learning anything about law.....but what about all the others. Did they all never take Law 101 somewhere in their lives. Do they not watch the news? Do they not read books? Do they not read the Naperville Sun? Did they not follow the Napergate Trials? Do they not live on this earth? Do they not understand that they can not be prejudicial or biased if they are selected to serve on the jury that Blagojevich will appear before? Some of your bloggers believe in justice Saddam Hussein style? Let us tie Blagojevich up and throw him off a 4 story building. That is how Saddam operated and some of your bloggers have the same appreciation of justice as this evil man had....how unfortunate....how immature...how evil!

Liz,

Rather than condemning Barack Hussein Obama for using a phony handle, why don't you show your womanhood by using your real first, middle and last name so we can all identify you.

Liz is not your real name. It is also a phony name or at best a nickname. And even if it was your real name, it does not identify you as there are millions of Lizards excuse me Lizes in America.

I simply can not believe all the anonymous people who criticise others for being anonymous.....it is almost laughable!!!

A few people feel that Blagojevich is innocent until proven guilty and we are suddenly the same person. A ton of people saying he is guilty before he is even indicted and they are all different people. Very interesting! It should be the other way around. Apparently, many people besides Liz never took Basic Law in high school or college.

Everyone should presume he is innocent as our constitution calls for until he is convicted in a court of law.

As far as posting. You are condemned if you use your real first name or if you chose a handle that is not your name by those who oppose your views.

I have only posted as Gary and suddenly I am accused of being Barack. How childish? I just find this Barack fellow and his humor fun to read. Now I am him! You guys got to be kidding.

Anyway, Moderator Chris has IP numbers and he knows that Barack and I are 2 distinct bloggers. It is up to him if he wants to share that information with you. I have no problem if he chooses to share it.

And Liz, if you don't want to be attacked stop attacking others. You were attacking this Barack fellow for no reason. He never said a word about you. Many people don't choose their first names as handles. Most actully pick unusual handles except for the Napergatians. The Napergatians apparently know each other very and like to use their first names as they can identify each other while obviously others can't.

Let us tone it down, Liz. Moderator Chris has asked bloggers to focus on the subject matter and not to attack each other. Let the Moderator worry about if someone is using more than one handle. He called someone out and I am sure he will call more people out that use the different handles with the same IP number. That is why he is the Moderator and we are not. He has access and we don't.

If someone tries to be 10 bloggers with the same IP number to tilt or manipulate the debate, I suspect Moderator Chris will call that person out. Host Ted and Moderator Jim did that too. So rather than making assumptions and guessing let the Moderator do his job.

Really some many bloggers on this site show such immaturity by presuming someone is guilty before he is even indicted. The governmenrt has the burden to prove he is guility beyond a REASONABLE DOUBT. That is a very high burden. Even if people think he is probably 95% guilty, under criminal law he will be found innocent or legal lingo NOT GUILTY!

To guess that a blogger may be another blogger also shows immaturity. Just blog and let the Moderator do his job. He has the IP numbers and addresses and he does not have to guess! Let us not waste time guessing. If the moderator wants to tell us, he will. If he does not, he won't and there is nothing we can do about it!

Glock 22, Willis wasn't tailgating the truck, he was tailgating a car, that managed to swerve and miss the debris. If he hadn't been tailgating, his kids would be alive today.

Also, that container was going to Green Bay no matter who the driver was, and you can't tell me that a tail light assembly knows who is driving the truck when it is going to fall off. Could a proper pre-trip inspection have found the defect? Maybe, maybe not. For all we know, the driver did an inspection, and the piece just failed. Blaming the deaths on Ryan is a stretch, and if he was responsible, why wasn't he charged with any counts of murder in any degree?

Ryan's apology is obviously a ploy designed to get a pardon or commutation from President Bush. Don't you think it is an amazing coincidence that he feels remorse at the same time he has a chance to get out of jail early?

I feel that the Willis is a hypocrite as he first said it was his fault for tailgating, he didn't blame the driver, and it was God's will that it happened. As I noted before, he found $100 million reasons to change his mind, not to mention a convenient target to transfer his guilt to.

What the ?,

kudos to you, you are spot on.

glock 22,

I'm right here baby!

The Sun Times printed a priceless photo of Blagojevich this week. He was leaving his Ravenswood home on 12/10 and was attempting to avoid the media by exiting by the back yard. In the photo he was standing next to a city sign that said "Warning" and "Target Rats" with a picture of a rat inside a red bulls-eye. The poetic irony wasn't lost on Rod. This sign disappeared by the next day.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/1328289,rat-sign-blagojevich-rod-governor-illinois-121208.article

Gary does seem to be channeling BKO. Sybil much?

William Stratton was the other one; he was charged with tax evasion after leaving office and was acquitted. He was a Republican.

Gary, where do I begin to address your obvious confusion?

First of all, to answer your question, yes, I finished high school, college and I have my Master's. I am new to blogging and my background isn't in law or political science, hence my questions to Moderator Chris regarding BHO's actions. I don't see why my asking for clarification draws such hostility from you, unless YOU are BHO. Some of your comments sound suspiciously similar to BHO's and your first post goes off on the same tangent. The fact that I choose not to follow the ramblings of someone trying to hyjack a blog about our Governor's current situation to facilitate his own propoganda is my choice. Once I noticed the phony name and saw that his comments were irrelevant to the Blagojevich situation, I quit reading his comments.

You may not be able to follow my logic since you are so easily distracted, but I was expressing MY opinion that using a phony name detracts from people taking the poster's comments seriously. And thank you for your concern, but if I ever feel the need to further educate myself regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the REAL Barack Obama's associations, I will find a more reputable source than someone cowardly posting on the internet using phony names. But feel free to get YOUR education here if that is what you choose to do.

Lastly, while I am new to blogging I have no problem stating my opinions under my own name. And, in my opinion, anyone choosing not to attach their own name to a post is welcome to use an innocuous moniker. To me, it is childish and distracts from the blog topic to attempt to impersonate another person or use a name that clearly isn't theirs. The same goes for those who post under multiple names to prop themselves. As I stated before, it seems that BHO/Gary doesn't feel his opinion(s) would be taken seriously... or even read... unless they use a name that would gain attention. That's fine. I'll just skip future posts with those labels.

Back to Blagojevich... It was commented in the media that while Blagojevich is spending time in his office after his arrest, he has received very few visitors and callers. It seems everyone is scrambling to distance themselves from him.

I don't think this is a witch hunt or discrimination of any sort unless it is wrong to single out dishonest politicians. While an accused is innocent until proven guilty, I think Madigan's move to temporarily suspend Blagojevich's power and hand his duties over to Quinn until the case can be presented in court is wise. If he is proven innocent, he could be reinstated. As taxpayers, we should hold our public servants to a higher standard rather than dummy down because we suspect corruption to be widespread.

Gary: How do you know he's not investigating the Rezko land deal? Blago had to be charged now or Fitz would risk "His Majesty" terminating all investigation by discharging him from Federal service when he closes his "Office of the President Elect" next month and moves to DC. And of course his firing wouldn't bother the press like it did when Bush fired a number of federal prosecutors after Alberto Gonzalez resigned as AG. (Funny how the press prosecutes Republican wrongdoing but minimizes or defends Democrat wrongdoing) Example: marching lock step and blaming Blago's problems on some sort of psychological disorder. Even the style of his hair has been deemed to be an indicator of a psych problem. OMG! Every pundit and wog was on that circuit yesterday and today. David Gergen was the funniest. He doesn't know Blago at all and less about Illinois politics but had the most complete mental diagnosis on cable news. And wouldn't firing Fitz have been sweet for the Democrat party? The whole mess gets swept under the rug and the political crime wave continues unabated. You may recall Rezko was to be sentenced in October. Then it was changed to after the election. And now, its been continued again. Wonder why? Rezko isn't the only one singing. Wanna bet Blago can carry a tune too and stay out of jail? Gee, an overzealous prosecutor or continued crooked politicians robbing and stealing in their elected offices? I'll take the prosecutor everyday. Someone has to hold the gun to these crooks. Many journalists have abandoned objective responsibility and carry the party message. By the way, I knew Frank Cuneo (he also ran Naperville branch traffic court Gary) albeit in the late 70's and he is no Patrick Fitzgearld and Napergate isn't the corrupt Democratic Party, you pick it; Chicago, Cook County, or Illinois level. I hope you are not really confused the two are similar. Now I'm irrated. MIMI? Where are you?

Wow, where to start . . .

Glock 22: Corruption is not party specific. These people are corrupt because they are politicians, not because they are republicans or democrats. Besides, since you brought it up in your rant against the Dems, weren't the last 4 Illinois Govs who were charged or sent to prison all Republicans? Democrats have been vastly underrepresented in this group until now. Thanks a lot, Rod!

Ken: You and I are usually more in agreement than not, but I think your previous comment that Willis killed his 6 children by tailgating that truck was not only incredibly insensitive but inaccurate. That truck was on the road compliments of George Ryan. The gov. risked public safetly in exchange for personal enrichment and people died because of it. Call it indirect or collateral damage or whatever you like, but he allowed it to happen. Yes, that truck could have been on the road just as easily without a license at all, but then Ryan wouldn't be sitting in jail for it, would he? I think the Willis's chose to sue when they found out that this was not just an accident as it first appeared, but that the truck was operating with safety violations and the driver had obtained his license via a campaign contribution to Ryan. That would have done it for me.

By the way, did you hear that Ryan issued a formal apology today to the people of Illinois and the Willis's? In his statement he accepted responsibility--finally, after all these years--for what was done under his watch. His lawyer said it had nothing to do with the fact that he has a pardon pending before Bush, as if anyone with half a brain believes that. The Willis's acknowleged the apology, but said it has come far too late.

By a Redskin: Axelrod was on CNN a day or two ago recanting his previous statement about Blago being directly in touch with Obama about a senate replacement. He said he had been "mistaken". I think Blago's camp had been doing a PR snowjob, trying to benefit from Obama's popularity by giving the impression that Blago the future prez were close colleagues. Axelrod came clean when he was called on it.

Liz: I think the blogger posting under Obama's full name intentionally spelled it as Barak to distinguish himself from the real Obama.

Barak or Barack Hussein Obama: I think you should stick with the Barak spelling. I know your blogs are meant as tongue-in-cheek editorials poking fun at Obama, but there is something creepy about posting under someone else's identity, even when we all know it's bogus. I doubt the real Obama cares, but there could be other local politicians who would not appreciate someone posting stuff under their names. Like Rod B., for example. You know how he hated bad press and went after those Tribune editors. I wouldn't post under his full name if I were you. He's nuts enough to come after you. Just a suggestion.

And finally, I consider myself to be a "blue dog" democrat, but the LAST thing I feel compelled to do is fall all over myself defending Blago. Far from it. I think the guy should be hung up by his privates and left to twist in the wind for the crap he pulled. Just another suggestion.

Ok Gary, aka Victoria, aka Tawfik, aka Barack, aka Todd. All of these personas created to justify your arguments. OR were all of those different people awake at 1am, blogging in a similar style?

Well folks, we found the 8% who still support Mr. B. Un.Be.Liveable.

Are the same people blogging under different names here? Gary aka BHO aka what happened to justice? Host Chris am I nuts or are there really that many Blajokeovich supporters on here?

Why doesn't Fitgerald investigate the Rezko/Obama land deal?

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Very good question!

Simple answer is Barack Hussein Obama can fire him on Jan 21 or shortly thereafter.

Blagojevich can not fire US Attorney Partick Fitzgerald.

Blogger Barack does make sense. This is all politics and how politics is played whether it is paid for or not.

I think this USA PF fellow is a power hungry psycho who is trying to make a name for himself. If he had the goods he would have gotten an indicitment which is easy to get since some of our brainwashed citizens as Blogger Barack calls them will usually indict a ham sandwich if given an opportunity to be on a Grand Jury!

I can not believe all the bloggers on this site have treated USA PF as if he was some kind of God. I think he is a power hungry idiot who will be fried by the real Barack before he can fry Blagojevich.

If you can't get someone corrupt in 6 years, there is a good chance a witchhunt is going on. Prosecutors can not always be believed.

At one time we believed what our own former Prosecutor Francis Cuneo told us about the Napergate Man after a very long witch hunt lasting years. He told us he was the sc#m of the earth. And a few years later the Napergate Man emerges as clean as a whistle with mud all over Prosecutor Cuneo after several legal battles. This should be a lesson never to jump to conclusions based on what a shady power hungry prosecutor tells you. We need to be wise and patient until this mess plays out.

This fiasco of Blagojevich could easily be another Napergate Man fiasco when all the dust settles. We were not patient when the Napergate Man was accused wrongfully. We mostly all bought the bait. Let us not buy the bait again. Let us see what the Federal Courts have to say this time...for Heaven's Sake the man has not even been indicted. And even if he is convicted he did nothing more or less than all politicians do nationwide. There is no reason to single him out.....that is selective and discrimatory prosecution. If you want to go after crooked politicians go after them all equally. Don't single them out for their political views or for your future personal power aspirations!

Sometimes I feel like the bloggers on this site were acting like a herd of sheep until Blogger Barack presented some opposing viewpoints and insights. And to think of the number of bloggers who want Host Chris to censor him.....for what!

I commend Host Chris for not falling for the pressure of the sheep and keeping this blog site free of censorship! We already had All Points West fail due to censorship. Let us keep this blog site thriving and build it into Naperville's #1 Blog Site!

Ms Broom Rider (aka Marry Poppins)

Blago is under full court attack by the Federal government. You cannot sit and wait for their action. This costs money.

And Gary is exactly correct. Fitzgerald has not been able to pin anything on Blago, so he jumps the gun and "STOPS A CRIME."

I wish law enforcement (police and prosecuters) would use this tactic on murderers rather than a politician. Remember, Blago has been accused, not convicted. In fact, a grand jury did not even agree to the charges. Why didn't Fitzgerald do that? They are typically rubber stamps when the facts are sufficient.

Why doesn't Fitgerald investigate the Rezko/Obama land deal?

"If Blagojevich was stealing taxpayer money he would not be on the verge of bankruptcy. The man is paid very poorly for being Governor."

Ummm, last time I checked our fine governor earns $177,412. If he would have moved to Springfield that would have been more than enough money for Blajokeovich and his family.

Liz,

No offense, but did you ever finish high school. You have no clue what libel is. You have no clue what slander is.

You seemed obsessed with this fellow Barack. He already stated he is not the President-elect. He just chose a catchy handle like many other bloggers do. This blog site is not the opinion page of the New York Times or the Washington Post where a President may truly write a letter to the editor. And if that happens the editorial staff confirms his identity by calling. You obviously never wrote a letter to the editor where identities are confirmed. In blog world everything is loose and no identities are confirmed.

For you to believe this guy is misleading anyone to believe he is the real President indicates you have seriously impaired judgment. That is why I wondered if you finished high school. Does you IQ register on any charts?

Barack is being a little humorous while expressing his views. He understands politics obviously better than most of us and knows what happens behind the scenes in Illinois politics. In reading his posts, I honestly find it hard to disagree with anything he said. I think the immaturity shown by you and a few other bloggers is highlighted by your inability to comment or repsond to anything he said. If you did not finish high school or watch the news you may not know where Kenya or the Palestinian occupied territories even are. This could be causing frustration for you. Maybe you need to ask Barack to educate you a little. He seems like a nice enough fellow that he may even take time to educate you.

Back on subject. I do agree with Barack that everyone in Illinois pays to play in some way or another. I do believe the real Barack played to pay and that is why he is up where he is today.

Someone simply had a hard on for Blagojevich. If Blagojevich was stealing taxpayer money he would not be on the verge of bankruptcy. The man is paid very poorly for being Governor. He knows his days are numbered as Governor. He was trying to secure his future by trading the Senate Seat for a postion such as head of the union or board member. He would have to earn his cash once he gets his position. So no one offered him money or a bribe. He did not ask for either. He asked for a favor in return for a favor. This has been happening in US politics for centuries.

The US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald overreacted. He jumped the gun. He had been frustrated in his 6 year investigation of Blagojevich that has netted nothing. If this guy was so corrupt, why could they not get anything on him in 6 years? Obviously he was not corrupt. He was simply doing what a politician does. Trading horses!

Todd,

No, I'm not crazy, just have a dirty mind! If you read what glock22 wrote to me in his post you'd understand...just trying to give the man what he desperately craves - "pleasure".

You have to give Blago his day in court. Last I recalled, this is America. You are innocent until proven guilty.

That said, this complaint by Fitzgerald may never hold water.

1. I do not see how trading political posts for appointments is illegal. This is part of the political process. The fact that Obama spurred him and Blago was incensed are purely human reactions, not illegal acts.

2. The details are coming out behind the money and Jesse Jackson. It appears that common fundraisers for Obama and Jackson (in particularly this Nayak guy) were behind the money. Nobody said I would pay for the seat. Rather, they would collectively raise money for Blago. I know that fundraising is a very sensative topic. A campaign contribution cannot buy an action, but there are curious relationships.

3. How can anyone do business with a company that slams you? The Tribune Company is in bankruptcy, if the governor does not like them, he can ignore them.

The more that comes out on these charges, the more that this is entrapment that was never carried out.

My comment was "what a waste" - a comment regarding the general status of Illinois politics and one Illinois politician in particular.

Our illustrious "reformer" governor has shown his true colors once again. What is it about Chicago politics that just corrupts everything it touches? Is it possible for someone to operate in the cesspool of corruption and keep them selves above the filth? Or is just becoming a part of the process, the first step in selling your soul? it seems more and more, that no one can enter politics with any chance of not having to join the machine.

Are there any honest, ethical, moral people representing us any more?

Has anyone other than Blagojevich's attorney spoken on his behalf? I don't recall seeing or hearing anything in the media about anyone accusing him of being a stand-up guy or straight-shooting politician... even in his own office. Doesn't that speak volumes?

Chris, do the posting guidelines have anything to say about slander, libel, defamation of character, etc. by posters toward an actual person? And, is the Sun setting themselves up by knowingly allowing someone to pose as another person... especially someone like President-elect? It might be worth investigating. Expressing our views is one thing, but to express views as someone (especially a real person, not 'anonymous' or 'disgruntled' or some other innocuous moniker) changes the whole message of the post. Why can't this person with clearly-too-much-time-on-their-hands-and-poor-judgement not state the exact same message as his own opinion? Does he feel no one would listen unless he presents his ideas in some outrageous manner?

And, if someone being libeled/slandered wanted to pursue a case, would the Sun voluntarily surrender an IP address for the offending poster? That would be one way to stop the games. Something to think about.

Anyway, back to the topic, it came out in the news now that Jesse Jackson Jr was identified as 'Senate Candidate 5'. I wonder how many names are going to fall out in the shake-down, and how many will be found to be guilty of corruption. Hopefully, Illinois will do some serious and much-needed house cleaning.

Glad to see some Barack Hussein Obama supporters finally showing up after the bashing he has been getting the last few days on this blog site. Personally, I think he got bashed because he admitted he was Agnositc. I respect his honesty. Considering how full our church parking lots are every Sunday, I am not surprised he would be bashed in this way for simply being AGNOSTIC!

Plus he had the courage to stand up for the Palestinians living under occupation for 41 years. That usually strikes a raw nerve with Jewish and Fundamentalist Evangelical viewers on any blog site. They can't stand to be reminded that they are supporting an Apartheid State.

As far as Illinois Politics, I believe they are exactly as Blogger Obama has described them. Corrupt as can be! Of course Obama played to pay until he reached a point where he realized he was too much in the limelight to play to pay....and the stakes had become too high. Plus his campaign contributions were rolling down like the Niagara Falls. He was smart not to pay for Ms. Valerie Jarrett to replace him. He probably has hundreds of million left in his war time campaign chest. He had the money to play. But he knows better!

Valerie really does not deserve that office anyway. Why should Blagojevich give it to her? She is really a nobody. And I really don't know what all this fuss is about Blagojevich. He was playing politics as usual. It is not like any of us can be appointed to this Senate position. We all know it has to be someone with power who can reciprocate in some way or another. Obviously, our Blogger Obama was telling us the truth and some people can't accept the truth.

It is my belief that Blagojevich will not be indicted or convicted. He did not ask for cash. He asked for something in excess of appreciation from anyone that wanted this appointment. He wanted someone with clout to get him on a Union Board when his Governership ended. That is nothing but politics. It is not considerd pay to play. It is business as usual and all politicians look for something in return for favors they dish out. Making someone a Senator without going through a 2 year campaign and millions and millions of dollars is doing someone a big favor. That someone can be expected to return the favor somehow and sometime. That is all the governor wanted. He was broke and did not want to be homeless after his term was over. I don't blame him. I wish he was not caught on tape asking for a favor in return. But he did not ask for CASH and I believe that is what will vindicate him if he gets a fair trial outside of Illinois!

Victoria,

I agree with your post. I have been reading Barack nightly before I crash out and I think the man is wonderful. It seems like he is the real Barack that would talk to you one to one with no cameras shining. The Barack we see on TV is the Barack that the Democratic Party carved up to be who they want him to be.

It is well known that Barack hung around the Arab and Palestinian populations at the University of Chicago. One of his best friends was Ali Abunimeh who was the producer of an Intifada Internet Site. Barak is very pro-Palestinian deep in his heart. He knew he could never get elected President uless he catered to the Israeli Lobby. Same as Jimmy Carter. He will continue catering to them till his last year in office at which time the real Barack will show up and bring peace to the Middle East. Hopefully, he does it while he has some power. Jimmy Carter waited till he lost power and than tried but obviously he was powerless. The best he could do is monitor elections in the occupied territories of Isreal after his presidency.

I think the Israeli Lobby in this country is afraid of Obama. He really won this election without their support or money or backing. Barack was an internet wizard who knew how to play the internet for big campaign contributions. He is the first President that did not need the Israeil lobby, their money, or their few million voters. He will eventually have the courage to stand up to them and the racist State of Israel that is known for its Apartheid Regime.

Thank you, Mr. Chris for allowing me to post! And thank you for allowing Barack to continue to post! I very much enjoy reading his articulate and insightful posts. I find them very refreshing and enlightening.

Mimi,

Are you calling Barack crazy. You can't even get your posts approved. I suspect that means you may be the crazy one with loose wires.

Barack speaks eloquently and makes a lot of sense. Most of what he says is well known fact. He is just stating it in a funny way. The man is got some dry wit and good humor. He is full of sarcasm. Give him credit!

Moderator Chris,

I just wanted to step in and say I have really enjoyed reading the satire by this Barack fellow. I think he is really funny yet trying to send a serious message. I really don't understand the problem some bloggers are having with him. He seems to be very insightful and understands the interworkings of government. Maybe he was once a Senator or Representative from the Illinios Legislature. You just never know who is blogging with us.

Many great producers have tried to get in the minds of Presidents and make movies about them. Are they all crazy because they tried to get in the minds of Presidents? Are the actors who played the Presidents also crazy? I think not!

I think your many on line whiners as Barak has correctly labeled them, are nothing but cry babies. They are boring to read as they have nothing to say. Anyway, I just wanted to say a few words in support of Barack as I believe he has been criticised unfairly and unjustly on your blog site. There is nothing crazy about him. He appears extremely intelligent and I admire his writings. Keep up the good work, Barack!

Hey Censored?

Watch your language. I did not call you an idiot and would never lower myself to your level! Let us avoid name calling and blog about the subject matter as the Host has suggested.

I am really surprised most of you bloggers can't even collect your thoughts and write a coherent paragraph.

And you are worried about my spelling, Mimi ! Give me a break. My spelling is excellent and if I occasionally spell a word incorrecty, it is because I write quickly, do not review what I am writing as I am confident in myself, and do not use SPELL CHECK like most bloggers.

Now I challenge you challenged bloggers to put a couple of paragraphs together and try to write about the subject of the thread. Are any of you capable? Let us see......

Disappointed and Anonymous,

Why don't you guys just ignore me and post regarding the subject matter on this thread as Host Chris suggested?

If you think about it you are contributing nothing to the debate.

Host Chris gave you a very unique opportunity to express your opinions and ideas. I am taking an advantage of his generosity and you are not.

All you have to say is nothing.....that is truly DISAPPOINTING!

Also it seems like you guys have never been exposed to humor and sattire. One should be able to have fun while discussing Illinois Politics. Otherwise it would be very depressing.

We are the most corrupt state in the nation according to the FBI. Four govnernors have been convicted and a fifth may also be convicted shortly or plead guilty. I am sure you guys probably voted for some of these governors that are felons. That is truly very DISAPPOINTING.

Let us lighten up a bit and have fun while discussing Illinois Politics. Again, instead of worrying about me, why don't you take the Host's advice and ignore me and blog about the subject of the thread posted above.

I see no purpose for your presence if you are not going to blog about the subject matter. Try to contribute constructively to this specific thread site and to this blog site in general. Be positive instead of negative. Life is short and we can not take it with us when we die!

If you notice any libel coming from me, please point out to me and the Host. If you don't please focus on the subject matter of the thread.

Thank You! And Go Chicago Bears!

I know Chris! I don't want you to get in trouble. It was pretty funny if I do say so myself.

Hmm, so you will censor Mimi's comments but not this Barack idiot?

...interesting.

Ok, I know we aren't supposed to make fun of the mentally challenged but dear God, please host Chris, at least make the Wannabe take his meds before blogging!! Oh...and can you do anything about his spelling?

I'd much rather see my posts (which were obviously not approved by the mod) on sexual innuendo aimed at glock 22 than the Wannabe Pres. Elects crazy rants. At least my comments were funny....too funny for public consumption, I guess.

Disappointed--I totally agree.

What a waste of time.

I stopped playing politics for pay as soon as I decided to run for President. You have to be whistle clean to be President. We all know that.

I did not speak to Blagojevich but I had one of my aides speak to him about making Valerie Jarrett the junior Senator for the state of Illinios. My aide came back and told me that appreciation was not enough to make her Senator. Only God knows what he wanted but my aide was smart enough not to even ask. After I realized Blagojevich wanted something material, I made my dear friend my Senior Aide. She had campaigned heavily for me. I owed her something. Call it paying her back if you will but can you guys really expect her to campaign for me for 2 years for nothing in return. Let us have some common sense!

Now this Jesse Jackson Jr. has no common sense. He apparently offered the Governor $500,000 immediately and another million in campaign contributions down the road. While that is chump change for me, that is no chump change for an unpopular governor.

A million a a half dollars for my prestigous Senate Seat. What a joke! What an insult! I used to raise 100 times that amount per month in my campaign. If I was corrupt like Jesse, I would have offered at least one month's campaign contributions or 150 million to the Governor to install Ms. Jarrett in my Senate Seat. For me it was not about money. It was about my honor, ethics and of course staying out of jail.

Yes, I was corrupt when I was playing Illinois politics. No, one can play with those Illinois Boys unless you are corrupt. Do you guys think Mayor Daley is a Saint? He just knows how to pay to play and has not been caught yet. But the Feds are on to him and he is going down next. I did not have any secret deals with him so I don't have to worry about pardoning him after my first term. I will pardon him after my second term though as he is a pretty nice guy and by that time he would have served enough time in the penetenciary.

Blagojevich is being a smart politician by not resigning. Very smart! It gives him a card to play with the US Attorney. He is going to play that card in order to stay out of jail. It may be his only "Stay our of Jail Card."

I suspect the US Attorney still has a weak case. Thus a deal can be made for Blagojevich to resign as opposed to facing potential indictment.

If Blagojevich resigns what card does he have to play.....none!

Most politicians pay to play politics. Blagojevich was just not careful and had a loose mouth and got caught. I played pay to play when I was a Senator in Illinios. All politicians in Illinois do. We now have 5 Governors who have been charged and 4 convicted. That speaks volumes about our practices.

Rezko sold me my house for below cost. He did me a favor. He expected a favor in return but thankfully he was arrested and convicted so I don't have to return the favor. He did not rat me out because I promised I would pardon him at the end of my first term.

Personally I feel the person who is posting like another is distracting. We want to know what you think & not you "Playing a President on the Blog" If I want to know what the President is thinking I'll ask him. Should I ask someone else what you think?

Gee...Ken can make Napergatians run away with just some typing of a few words on a computer. You got to be kidding me. Some backbone they have if that were true. If they can't handle that from one little person...

I think you go beyond simple controversy. The simple fact as the editor is saying that your postings are the center of the posts rather than the topic of the post. If it was not distracting then we would just respond to your ideas. You are pulling your readers away from your goal, which should be the ideas. That is like a commercial that people remember what happens in the commercial but not what was being advertised. You need to have it meet the goal.

Now the Tribune is reporting that Quinn is stating the impeachment process should start quickly. That is quite interesting!!

To the Barack Wannabe,

Be happy that you live in a country that allows you to spew your stupidity.

Diffusion of Responsibility is powerful!

Host Chris,

If you review my posts, I am simply expressing opinions and essays on topics and sometimes I admittedly drift off topic. I have not attacked anyone personally especially initially.

Bloggers are having trouble with my satire and humor. I don't see why. I think they also have trouble with my opinions. And of course my choice of a handle.

I am very different from Ken who calls Napergatians a cult and their leader the Napergate Man a criminal. I am simply expressing an opinion and some bloggers are attacking me and my handle instead of debating me.

You even stated I made many good points on one thread. Bloggers need to get over my choice of my handle. It really should be no big deal. I think it was a very good choice. I believe it increases the chances I am read. And it has! And all those who claim they are not reading it are obviously reading it. Otherwise, they would not be bothered and proceed as if I did not exist if they were truly not reading my posts....lol....!!!

In the end controversy is what fuels a powerful blog site. If you allow controversy your blog site will flourish. If you do not allow controversy, you blog site will wilt.

Ken is very different than I. He is an instigator who responds with libel and attacks. I am an essay and opinion writer who people respond to.

Personally, I feel your tolerance of Ken and his libel has chased away hundreds of Napergatians. They are not going to blog on a site where you allowed the Napergate Man to be called a criminal. I think that is one mistake you made since becoming Host and it has been costly from my observation. Just something to think about, Host Chris. Again, I am simply just expressing my opinion and could be wrong. All the Napergatians for all I know could be out shopping for Christmas. May God Bless them and all others during this Holiday Season!

Well if they can find him mentally unstable they may have a chance. :-)

I find it amazing the number of politicians, friends and neighbors of Blagojevich who are now coming out and saying that Blago was a maniac and actually questioning his sanity. I wonder how these same people who now can't stand him would have described him just a week ago when he was still in a power position? (My thoughts about him haven't changed by the way, but were just confirmed.)

It appears that most of his friends were friends while he was in power and control, but now don't seem to be around!

Host Chris,
Here is my first post on this thread reposted below. It was very much about topic and yet bloggers complained....about what? I was just trying to give them some insights as to what goes on behind the scenes in politics. Here it is for you and them to see again. Apparently, everything is bothering them these days. They need to be patient until I become President and make a difference in their boring and financially unstable lives. I even appeased them by spelling my name they wanted it spelled instead of the proper Kenyan/British way. I undertand some of my constituents have yet not accepted me as President. Sometimes, it takes time to be accepted. Please remember I am the first Black President. Fifty years ago, if I were the son of a white lady and a black man, I would have never been elected. We have come a long way due to openness and undertanding. Let us keep progressing forward and never look back.

____________________________________________________________________

My Dear Constituents,

The governor of Illinois is presumed innocent. He has not even been indicted yet. He was playing politics. He did not ask for a bribe or money. He asked for a better position for himself in return for giving up my Senate Seat that he was empowered by your constitution to fill up. He had rights to it and could have simply given it to himself fair and square. He probably should have and avoided all this mess if he was using his brain. I advised him to take it after he told me he did not want to give it to Valerie Jarrett in return for my heart felt appreciation. I told him I could not appoint him to anything because of his reputation and 13% approval rating. If he had a good reputation and a 90% approval rating, I would have installed him as Ambassador to China in return for making my good friend Valerie a Senator. Hopefully, the FBI would have not been wiretapping me. Of course, I will have the Secret Service from now on frisk any FBI agent that gets near me for a possible wire-tap.

What happened is nothing new. It happens in every state in the union. It happens in the Federal Government. Who do you think is the beneficiary of all the appointments I have been making. You guessed it! Those who worked the hardest to raise 150 million dollars in monthly contributions to my campaign fund. Name one person I put in my cabinet whom did not help my campaign in some way or another except for Defense Secretary Gates. I had to go with him because our country has not been attacked since 911 and I can't take a chance and put one of my unqualified contributers in that very important position and have him screw everything up by not being as diligent as Bush and his Defense Secretaries were. I could never live with myself if the Sears Tower ever came tumbling down. This is not an area where I will play for pay. We are talking National Security here!

Anyway, you folks all know that Bush pardoned Chief of Staff Scooter Libby. Governor Blagojevich has been my friend. We always played to pay in Illinois. You all know about Rezko and Ali. Well they were my friends and the Governor's friends. They are both in jail now because they were caught paying to play. Not nice! I think the US Attorney and FBI are making a big deal about play to pay when it is so wide spread throughout the nation. No one gives you a contribution for no reason. They expect something in return....DAH....especially a large contribution. No one raises hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions unless there is a light at the end of the tunnel for them....such as some job or good opportunity. Jobs with union benefits and nice pensions are always the preference. Everyone loves to sit on the board of a union. That is what Blagojevich was hoping for if he could not get re-elected.

Anyway just like Bush pardoned Libby, you can count on me to pardon your current governor in Illinois. I have asked him to resign today but that was purely for public relations and consumption. I am not going to let him rot in jail next to your former Governor Ryan who Bush is expected to pardon in the next month or so. Your current governor has some young children. I am not going to have the heavy handed US Attorney separate him for his children and adorable wife. I don't care that his wife cussed on the Cubs. I am a White Sox fan anyway. I don't care that his wife cussed on the Editors of the Tribune. My wife cussed on Fox News everyday for attacking me. She once prayed that the building would fall on O'Riley's head from the No Spin Zone after he said I was incompetent and not qualified to be President. WE were just not caught on a wire tap. Thank God!!!

Your governor has loose wires. I told him he was being wire-tapped but his bearings were apparently connected by fried wires. Nothing was clicking upstairs.

He gets paid less than the City Manager of Naperville. He was broke. He was desperate for money. All he was trying to do is get himself and his wife on some Corporate Boards that paid well so they could avoid bankruptcy. He owed Winston and Straw lawyers more money than he is worth, in legal fees. They have been representing him and they just dumped him because he could not pay up. He was plain broke. Trust me! I am your President and would never lie to you! Thanks for voting for me by the way! I do appreciate that. And appreciation is all you are going to get. No pork bills are coming your way unless you want me to be Ryan's roomate in freezing Wisconsin. I don't care that it is really a country club....it is still a freeeezing cold country club! Washington D.C. is a lot warmer.

Due to these unusual circumstances, I am going to let US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald proceed with an attempt to convict him for playing politics as usual. Again he did not ask for a bribe or money. Just a favor in return which is what politics is about. PF is blowing everything out of proportion. He wants to be Attorney General one day. I assure you it won't happen in the next 8 years.

I am going to burn him with a pardon for your Governor just like Bush burned him with a pardon for Scooter Libby. Fair is fair! Stop blogging about this nonsense. Get back to work and be productive citizens. We have serious economic problems and we need productivity to improve our GDP! Not around the clock BLOGGING adn BLABBING!

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I feel I was very on topic, Host Chris, and bloggers complained. I think this shows you they simply disagree with my opinion which is what this blog site is about. They need to grow up and respect opposing views of point and stop the "on line whining." This whining is very unproductive and getting old. Since all topics can not be covered on threads, I think it is OK to deviate a little from topic. Who knows it may point you in the direction of a thread that may interest another segment of your bloggers. Anyway, Host Chris, just remain strong. Some bloggers want to throw their weight around and push you a little. They want to see if they can break you. They have been able to bend you so far but not break you. Hopefully, in the future, you will not even let them bend you. That is what will make you a successful Moderator. And I must say you are showing signs of a very successful moderator especially for a very young man in his late twenties. For those bloggers who keep telling you they want censorship, remind them what happened to Tim West's Blog Site. It go nowhere. It has been brought down by no other than from its own Host and his actions of censorship. Again, this censorship, would never have been known if the courageous former Host Ted did not allow bloggers to blog about it. At least we can see that the Naperville Sun has some dissension and disagreement and I think that is very healthy. Governor Blagojevich tried to control the Tribune by bullying them....look it how far he got....nowhere!

Host Chris,

I really don't understand why you are sympathetic to their thoughts. I am simply expressing my opinion.

I don't understand what you have to discuss with your superiors. Your advice to the rebellious bloggers that they can skip over my posts is spot on. Apparently they are having a hard time doing that as they must feel there is some substance to what I am portraying.

I have chosen a handle like every other blogger has chosen a handle. What is wrong with that?

I am being satirical. I am obviously not the President of the United States but trying to put my head in his head and think as he thinks. What is wrong with that?

I believe in everything I am saying or writing. If your bloggers have an issue, they should be men or women enough to debate me.

Not wimps who come running to you every time they disagree with something I said.

I am not libeling anyone. Just telling it as it is. Walter Cronkite once told it as it was and people loved him. We can not continue to allow Americans to be brainwashed by AIPAC and other pro Israeli organizations.

What is untruthful about Israeil being a racist and zionist state? The United Nations once declared it a racist state. President Carter visited the Holy Land many times and came back and wrote about Apartheid practices he witnessed first hand. His book is a best seller. He is a very devout Christian who believes in the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ and Almighty God. I respect him and think he was not only a great president but a caring human being.

Many churches in downtown Naperville have united against Israeil occupation in a group known as ETO or End the Occupation. They demonstrate on the Washington Bridge in downtown Naperville once a month at 12 noon on Saturdays. I believe they have been doing it for nearly 10 years. Would like to see the Sun give them more coverage as they are a very dedicated and sincere group.

What I see is some Establishment Religious Right Wing Fanatics on your blog site who don't want the truth to be known. I say let us be brave and allow the truth to be known. Censorship is abohorrent and has led us to the troubles we have in this world.

The biggest problems the USA faces is its support for Israel. That is why most countries of the world hate us. We are supporting a racist Apartheid Regime and most Americans are sick and tired of this nonsense.

That is why they voted for me as your president. I was a very close friend of Palestinian Professor Khalid Rasheed of the University of Chicago and I learned the real truth from him that I could not learn from the American Media. He had the facts and pictures to prove his words.

I am sorry to tell my fellow Americans I will be snapping the umbilical cord that connects us to Israel. We are a better country than that. We do not need to be supporting a racist and oppresive regime who treats Palestinians as 4th class citizens. We had the courage to end Apartheid in S. Africa. We need to now muster the courage to end Apartheid in Israel. I hope I will have your support, my fellow Americans!

There's a difference between people disagreeing with each other on the issue being discussed responding to the original blog and people just going on off-topic rants about Palestine.

Please explain to me what the conflicts between Israel and Palestine have to do with the Governor being arrested.

This is just ridiculous. What is the purpose of holding comments in a moderation queue if you let idiot trolls gimmick post? I guess the moderation team here needs to make a decision on which is more important to them-

1. Maintaining a community and promoting a civil on-topic discussion.

2. Allowing any moron post whatever they want no matter how off-topic or inflammatory it is.

These two moderation styles are mutually exclusive. Even if this "Barak Hussein Obama" guy wants to cry censorship, who cares? He's just pushing our buttons, and pushing Chris's buttons by screaming he's being censored. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who would describe not posting the idiotic ramblings of someone just trying to stir the pot as "censorship." Do you really think he'd get very far in some anti-Sun campaign because you wouldn't let him spew his trash all over every thread here?

If nothing else, make a compromise. Post all comments, but create a garbage dump thread that you can move off-topic and irrelevant posts to. That way these imbeciles can play their games and post their tripe and we can continue to discuss the topic at hand without interruption about herding goats in Kenya.

It's not censorship because you're still publishing comments, they'd just be going up in a location where no one would have to read them.

I think Gov. Blagojevich's best move now would be to offer the Senate seat to Patrick Fitztgerald.

;-)

Liz,

You are a little behind. Host Chris already told me I was spelling my name wrong according to the proper American Spelling. I explained to him in Kenya where my father was from we used the English spelling.

Since I am now President of the USA and removed from Kenya and Britain, I will begin spelling my name the way Americans want me to spell it.

I explained that to Host Chris, but I can not allow my constituents to focus on my name. Let us focus on moving the country forward.

By the way I am proud of my middle Arab/Islamic name. That is why I spell it out so you all can see it. Maybe you will develop some respect for Muslims and Arabs who are good people just like us Americans. We can not continue calling them terrorists and expect them to seek peace with us.

I hated that lady who told McCain that I was an Arab with a hint I must be evil. And I hated McCain when he said "he was not an Arab and simply a good family man." McCain was indirectly saying Arab-Americans are bad. That comment was outrageous. He should have told that lady that even if I was an Arab-American I had as much rights as an Irish-American or Italian-American. I am a US Citizen and pround of my citizenship and love my country even if I have Arab and Muslim roots.

McCain finally showed he was a racist. I am so glad the great citizens of this country saw through him and voted me in office.

I assure you I will treat everyone equally in this country. I love white people, black people, Muslims, Arabs, Jews and everyone. Many people seem to forget I am as much White as I am Black. My Mom was a nice white lady from Kansas. I was raised by my white grandparents. I am also as much Muslim as Christian. My Dad was Muslim and my Mom was Chrisitian. My Dad went to Harvard and was a businessman. He was no terrorist!

I did try to convert to Christianity to fit better in American Society. You guys all saw what happened. I joined a Christian Church and my pastor starting spewing hate against White America. I dumped him and his church and Christianity for the time being. I am secretly praying 5 times a day to Allah as I am now a closet Muslim. I am much happier reading the Holy Quran each night before I sleep because it preaches love, understanding and peace for all humanity.

All this stuff about Muslims being terrorists and full of hate is brainwashing by President Bush. Sure there are some bad Muslims. But not as bad as that Timothy McVeih guy who blew his own Government building in Oklahoma and killed so many helpless and innocent babies in a nursery. He was the mother of all terrorists as he was betraying his own country. Last time I checked he was a Christian terrorist. He had lots of friends. My point is let us not condemn one billion Muslims because of what 100 fanatics do. Who is a worse terrorist! One who attacks his own country for no good reason or one who attacks another country for no good reason?

In the Israeli occupied territores, right now the Palestians are very peaceful. Israel is killing 5 Palestinians a day to keep them enslaved and there is no prees coverage in this country. Why? Eventualy, they will boil over, and start a 3rd Intifada and we will blame it on the oppressed Palestinians because the American media is not reporting on what leads to and causes these intifadas(rebellions against oppression).

Anyway, I am now dumby. The American-Israeli Action Committee donated tons of money to John McCain. AIPAC is a terrible organization that supports Apartheid in Isreal and its territories. No different than the former S. Africa. I will be cutting off the 3 billion dollars of aid we give this racist country in the first year in office. Mark my words! Read my lips Bush style! I will deliver. I would rather see this 3 billion used to help the poor and needy in my own country than support a foreign racist country.

Anonymous wrote:

"Could you please explain how you as a community organizer driving around in a Neon just a couple of years ago.... all of a sudden could afford to live in a $3 million dollar mansion on the lowly salary of an Illinois State Rep or a US Senator?"

I think two best-selling books have something to do with it.

Yeah... maybe he'll get distracted when the Spongebob show starts.

Free Speech doesn't allow you to yell Fire in a crowded theater. If the rules force you to approve all comments, the rules are wrong.

Moderator Chris:

The contamination of two threads by the "pseudo president" is truly detracting from the quality of the forums here.

Dear Barak,

If your hands are as lilly white as you claim... Could you please explain how you as a community organizer driving around in a Neon just a couple of years ago.... all of a sudden could afford to live in a $3 million dollar mansion on the lowly salary of an Illinois State Rep or a US Senator?

Explain to us again... and this time do it so we can really understand the fine points of the real estate transaction... how Tony Rezko was involved with your purchase of your home.

To Barak Hussein Obama: Next time you decide to play games on the computer, maybe you should try using Google before you pose as Barack Obama so you can spell it correctly. Or if Mommy is available, maybe she could spell it for you.

Seriously, are some of you who are responding in this thread adults? Can some of you debate civilly without name-calling, sophomoric sexual innuendo, and assuming false identities? Seriously? Some of your comments sound like children, and I know winter break isn't in effect yet.

I hate Alan Keyes. He is a black man that wishes he was born a white man. No one likes that kind of a man and that is why I whipped his a$$ in the election for my Senate Campaign! He is as phony as they come.....

After much thought and deliberation, Blago should appoint Alan Keyes the next Senator from IL.

Keyes meets all of the criteria:

* he is not tainted by Illinois politics

* he is not on the list of suspects that Blago allegedly approached for bribes

* he would be the only black Senator replacing the only black Senator

* he ran for the office and finished second vs. Obama, a man of the people

* the Democrats who are now throwing Blago to the wolves would have to seat the only black Senator when he arrives in DC.

Face it, the Republicans are still pissed that they lost! Boo hoo you big babies. Do something productive instead of pissing and moaning about everything!

Be careful with the idea of "not talking" and "discussed". You can have conversations about anything but it is on what is discussed. Why wouldn't you normally discuss a replacement...heck that is what advisors are for also. But discussing payment for it etc that is a whole other story & that may be what Barak is saying that he was not a part of that kind of discussion. I don't know I'm just making sure you are not just lumping things all together here & not distinquishing between appopriate conduct & then inappropriate/illegal conduct. Now I'm not claiming there isn't a lot of corruption going on. God knows we only probably know a small portion of it. To think what we may find out 40 years from now.

And where does it all start? The kids of today are tomorrow's politicans! Take a look at the link on how many are & at the end how they feel about it! You can check out the link on what Higher Education is doing.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-education/2008/12/2/cheating-on-the-rise-among-high-school-students.html

Mimi: "at least we have the balls to call a spade a spade". Really! You Mimi, balls? Oh my word, what a simply dreadful thought. I should rather think not. You may be a lot of things Mimi based upon your various rants however most assuredly, balls you are not nor do you have. You may wish. Maybe you are a little nuts perhaps? Barack Hussein Obama: Rod isn't going to be indicted. He was direct charged by the U.S. Attorney for the NE Dist. of Illinois. What, you think this all goes before a grand jury or something??? Sean, don't forget to include the Congressional seat for Emanuel in the special election. You see, all of these crooks moved up a notch in the rouges gallery with the election of the "One". The "One" we and the world have been waiting for you know. Funny, all these crooked people in Illinois EXCEPT for Obama. Count me as suspcious of the President Elect and his office. Axlerod says a couple of weeks ago The Elected one and Blago discussed potential candidates for the seat vacated by the "One". The "One" says yesterday he had no contact with Blago. What are "we", his subjects to think? MIMI-you are up-tell me! What??

Maybe the Illinoise Gov. should just have named his wife or daughter as the new Senator.(Alaska) Or maybe he should have found a Clinton or Kennedy to fill the vacancy.(New York) Maybe he should have just given it to a Bush or Rockerfeller (sp). I think you get the idea -- politics is really getting to be pretty corupt and the officies are already being sold to the highest bidder!

As a Napergatian, I wish I could have done more to have spearheaded this terrible crime. I mean, we changed city hall, we have restructured both the police and fire department, why lord could we not have help in this one too? So many questions, so little time.

Regardless of whom you voted for one, one thing is for sure every citizen in the state of IL in the past 10 years, who could vote, voted for a criminal. Something needs to be done for IL. I personally think Pat Quinn should govern, for the time being, but a special election should be held in IL to vote a new governor in AND fill the vacant senate seat left by Obama. Step up to the plate, law makers and do something for Illinois. Impeach Blogo and set an election up for the senate seat and for a new governor for April or May. I think the money would be well worth it.

My Dear Constituents,

The governor of Illinois is presumed innocent. He has not even been indicted yet. He was playing politics. He did not ask for a bribe or money. He asked for a better position for himself in return for giving up my Senate Seat that he was empowered by your constitution to fill up. He had rights to it and could have simply given it to himself fair and square. He probably should have and avoided all this mess if he was using his brain. I advised him to take it after he told me he did not want to give it to Valerie Jarrett in return for my heart felt appreciation. I told him I could not appoint him to anything because of his reputation and 13% approval rating. If he had a good reputation and a 90% approval rating, I would have installed him as Ambassador to China in return for making my good friend Valerie a Senator. Hopefully, the FBI would have not been wiretapping me. Of course, I will have the Secret Service from now on frisk any FBI agent that gets near me for a possible wire-tap.

What happened is nothing new. It happens in every state in the union. It happens in the Federal Government. Who do you think is the beneficiary of all the appointments I have been making. You guessed it! Those who worked the hardest to raise 150 million dollars in monthly contributions to my campaign fund. Name one person I put in my cabinet whom did not help my campaign in some way or another except for Defense Secretary Gates. I had to go with him because our country has not been attacked since 911 and I can't take a chance and put one of my unqualified contributers in that very important position and have him screw everything up by not being as diligent as Bush and his Defense Secretaries were. I could never live with myself if the Sears Tower ever came tumbling down. This is not an area where I will play for pay. We are talking National Security here!

Anyway, you folks all know that Bush pardoned Chief of Staff Scooter Libby. Governor Blagojevich has been my friend. We always played to pay in Illinois. You all know about Rezko and Ali. Well they were my friends and the Governor's friends. They are both in jail now because they were caught paying to play. Not nice! I think the US Attorney and FBI are making a big deal about play to pay when it is so wide spread throughout the nation. No one gives you a contribution for no reason. They expect something in return....DAH....especially a large contribution. No one raises hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions unless there is a light at the end of the tunnel for them....such as some job or good opportunity. Jobs with union benefits and nice pensions are always the preference. Everyone loves to sit on the board of a union. That is what Blagojevich was hoping for if he could not get re-elected.

Anyway just like Bush pardoned Libby, you can count on me to pardon your current governor in Illinois. I have asked him to resign today but that was purely for public relations and consumption. I am not going to let him rot in jail next to your former Governor Ryan who Bush is expected to pardon in the next month or so. Your current governor has some young children. I am not going to have the heavy handed US Attorney separate him for his children and adorable wife. I don't care that his wife cussed on the Cubs. I am a White Sox fan anyway. I don't care that his wife cussed on the Editors of the Tribune. My wife cussed on Fox News everyday for attacking me. She once prayed that the building would fall on O'Riley's head from the No Spin Zone after he said I was incompetent and not qualified to be President. WE were just not caught on a wire tap. Thank God!!!

Your governor has loose wires. I told him he was being wire-tapped but his bearings were apparently connected by fried wires. Nothing was clicking upstairs.

He gets paid less than the City Manager of Naperville. He was broke. He was desperate for money. All he was trying to do is get himself and his wife on some Corporate Boards that paid well so they could avoid bankruptcy. He owed Winston and Straw lawyers more money than he is worth, in legal fees. They have been representing him and they just dumped him because he could not pay up. He was plain broke. Trust me! I am your President and would never lie to you! Thanks for voting for me by the way! I do appreciate that. And appreciation is all you are going to get. No pork bills are coming your way unless you want me to be Ryan's roomate in freezing Wisconsin. I don't care that it is really a country club....it is still a freeeezing cold country club! Washington D.C. is a lot warmer.

Due to these unusual circumstances, I am going to let US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald proceed with an attempt to convict him for playing politics as usual. Again he did not ask for a bribe or money. Just a favor in return which is what politics is about. PF is blowing everything out of proportion. He wants to be Attorney General one day. I assure you it won't happen in the next 8 years.

I am going to burn him with a pardon for your Governor just like Bush burned him with a pardon for Scooter Libby. Fair is fair! Stop blogging about this nonsense. Get back to work and be productive citizens. We have serious economic problems and we need productivity to improve our GDP! Not around the clock BLOGGING adn BLABBING!

Ryan has shown no remorse for his crimes. Nor has Ryan's spouse, telling the Chicago Sun-Times, "If her husband had to do it over, he would govern the same way as he did before."

Unlike most political scandals, this one has a death toll. On Election Day morning 1994, the Reverend Duane Willis and his wife, Janet, voted to reelect George Ryan to another term of Secretary of State. The Willises, accompanied by their children, drove to Milwaukee. Tragedy struck: Six of their children were killed when the tail-light assembly of from an Illinois truck fell off the vehicle, colliding with the Willises' car.

The driver, Ricardo Guzman, spoke little English and was not able to understand the warnings his fellow truck drivers gave him about the assembly. Fluency in English is a requirement to receive an Illinois commercial driver's licence, and Guzman got around that by bribing a secretary of state official. Within a week, top officials with the SoS office, and probably Ryan himself, were aware that it was likely that Guzman acquired his license by paying a bribe.

Three other traffic deaths are tied to drivers who bribed secretary of state employees during Ryan's eight years in that office.

Ryan serves as lieutenant governor prior to becoming secretary of state. His heart wasn't really in the job, he wanted to get elected governor. That takes money. So Scott Fawell, Ryan's top assistant, forced many secretary of state employees to sell tickets to Ryan fundraisers. Lots of tickets. So many that some employees felt they had no choice but to accept bribes to meet their ticket quota.

When he became secretary of state, Ryan appointed longtime family friend Dean Bauer (who is also in prison) as inspector general. It was his job to root out corruption, he wouldn't do that, and at one point discussed cutting the number of secretary of state police because there was so little crime to be investigated.

Bauer pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2001, he and Ryan are just 75 people convicted in the investigation known as Operation Safe Roads.

There were some old style sweetheart deals for secretary of state offices that got Ryan too.

Ryan was elected governor just as the Operation Safe Roads investigation began, but a year after his election, it was clear that Ryan would be a one-termer.

Now he's serving a different kind of term.

Nine dead. 74 other convictions. Lives ruined.

No remorse.

There should be no commutation for Ryan.

Anonymouse 12/10/08 3:49pm, Duane Willis was quoted right after the accident saying he was following to close and was unable to swerve to miss the road debris. He also said he did not blame the truck driver as it was God's will. Of course, he later found a $100 million reasons to change his story.

By the way, NASCAR drivers do tailgate, actually draft, each other at high speeds and are willing to accept the consequences of their actions. If Willis was tailgating because of rush hour slowness, he could have swerved or stopped. In answer to your question, Willis, or any other driver, is supposed to leave enough space to between his vehicle and the one in front of him to react to such situations.

I can see your admiration for the cult members carries over to the use of personal attacks, Anonymouse 12/10/08 3:49pm. I would think that one who feels the need to attack someone on the internet in a typical keyboard rambo fashion, and at the same time show their intolerance for the poor mentally challenged people of the world needs psychiatric help more than I do.

Man these postings are getting sewerish! Just state your ideas without all the nasty language and meanness.

Anyone who thinks all Democrats voted for Blago...oh my! Like all Republicans love Bush, McCain or Ryan...Right!

And what is with people thinking, I don't care if you are Republican or Democrat, that we purposely vote in someone we know will be corrupt? I don't think anyone does that on either party. There were allegations & you have to wonder...but ya...do you have the proof? I didn't vote for him on the 2nd term but it wasn't just related to allegations it was more he wasn't fulfilling his claims when he was elected the first time. I was very dissatisfied with him on Education & other issues. I don't think anyone would have expected him to be selling senate seats. Even the FBI was shocked he was admitting to that. We have to be careful of Hindsight Bias also.

And while I agree with Ken that the gentleman could still be driving without a illegally purchased license, as many do on revoked & suspeneded ones, I do still think that fact that they gave him one when he was not suppose to have one, makes them also responsible. He should not have been driving period. Lets say you have someone who does not have a lisence at all and the same conditions happen, it is still that that person should not have been behind the wheel. This is the same thing, no legal lisence so he should not be on the road.

You may find this piece interesting

http://daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=432357

MD: Agreed. Democrats are tripping and falling all over themselves derding Blago. The problem: I lament they are thinking in Democrat terms for his replacement. Most often mentioned: Bill Daley and Lisa Madigan. Good grief! This gene pool, Madigan's and Daley's are in part the historical source of problems in this state. And Deb Mell? She is elected to a government seat last month and thinks she should be appointed to fill Emanuel's seat as a Congresswoman? And we remember Todd (the Toddler) Stroeger who along with the Dem party thinks he should fill his fathers seat on the Cook County Board. And now Jesse Jackson Jr. as candidate #5 and his father? Or candidate #1, the aid of "His Majesty" (Who never spoke to Blago about his Senate replacment. Sure, right!). WTF! These people serve us at our whim, not the other way around. Politicians in this state think there is some sort of feudal system of government at play in Illinois that is their birth right. They are the lords and we are the serf's as they toss us, our economic prosperity and financial future to the lions. Lets start tossing them in jail just for fun with their incompetence and corruption. GO Fitz and Go Grant. You are our hero's and leaders. You are our modern day Untouchables! MIMI: Throw down the gauntlet to the Democrats and you never cease to "give pleasure" to me. As I knew you would, you supported my comment about drawing a parallel about Bush with your comments haven't you? The point is as is the case with Ryan, this time EVERY Democrat voter in Illinois is responsible for Blago. YOU all (including mother of Glock 22 with her stupid Blago yard sign) re-elected him even with the cloud of the Fed investigation hanging over him and gave him forever the moniker of "Public Offical A". He was arrested on these new charges and the basis of acts that occurred just last week! The old stuff where he earned the Fed scrutiny is still pending. And KEN is partially right in my opinion. Ryan did not kill the kids, rather whoever was in charge of the trailer mainenance is mostly responsible. And Mimi, until we meet again, I will move from this state when you stop giving me the "pleasure" I expect from you baby.

Baggy should be sorry, not for being caught, but because of genuine remorse. He needs to apologize, repent and take his licks. If he had any honor he would begin by resigning. In this way he could demonstrate some of that "testicular fortitude" he was bragging about. I wouldn't hold your breath, however.

By Anonymous on December 10, 2008 12:24 PM

Anonymous,

Sounds like you know a lot more about Edward than most people.

I don't know what the current CEO's part was in taking the Hospital private or who has benefited.

As a non profit are their books open to the public?

Bubo

Sun Editors...

"Extremes" you said "Experienced who are corrupt" or "No experience" that is extremes. I am suggesting somewhere in between or just someone with "some experience" versus none or a lot!

By Ken on December 10, 2008 2:30 PM

Ryan's corruption did not kill any children; a father who admitted he was tailgating and unable to swerve to miss debris on a highway killed his own children.

Have you thought about having actual facts, Mimi?

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Ken,

I think I understand why the Napergatians consider you a retard of sorts. You want to blame the Dad for the killing of his own children. You are much more awful than any Napergatian could have possibly claimed. You are evil to say such things.

Is the Dad suppose to be some Nascar race car driver that he can dodge a missle falling off a truck?

If he was tailgating which I doubt, are you sure it was not rush hour when everyone is forced into tailgating due to low speeds and congestion?

And if the Dad was unable to swerve, could it be possible that there were cars in the adjoining lanes?

You make me sick, Ken! I think you have shown your true colors with your latest post. Usually, the Napergatians are ahead of us in analyzing. I guess time has showed they analyzed you just right! The failed to indicate you need to see a shrink. But I will just add that!

Ken, W has been admitting his mistakes for the last few years, do you read the paper or watch the news? Maybe I took the liberty to say "terrible"...but I'm sure he thinks he is terrible...or however W would butcher the word!!

Who re-elected W.?

_________________________________________________________

George W. Bush in a recent CNN interview showed regret for some of the things he said during his time in office. The biggest regret was not from his mouth, but in a form of a sign hung on U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003.

Bush landed on the carrier which had a sign that said “Mission Accomplished,” which clearly gave oppositions something to really work with. “To some, it said, well, ‘Bush thinks the war in Iraq is over,’ when I didn’t think that,” Bush told CNN.

Bush leaves office having presided over two highly unpopular wars and the beginning of a recession that is already being compared to the Great Depression for one reason or another. Bush is the same president who can’t pronounce the word nuclear properly and coined the word “strategery,” which I fully intend to use in my vocabulary in the future when looking for laughs.

____________________________________________________________

Perhaps determined to work on his legacy before he leaves office, President Bush has identified episodes from the last eight years he has come to regret. They include:

* Announcing that he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" right after Sept. 11.
* Declaring "bring 'em on" when discussing Iraqi insurgents in 2003.
* Speaking in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner on May 1, 2003, to declare major combat operations were complete.

Bush credits his wife for opening his mind to the importance of being careful with his words as President.

____________________________________________________________

President Bush's interview with Charlie Gibson aired last night, and Bush made it clear that he intends to leave office with his head held high. Reflecting on the highs and lows of his presidency, Bush concluded that it has been a "joyous" experience. Here are some of the excerpts:

* On the Iraq war intelligence: "The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn’t just people in my administration; a lot of members in Congress, prior to my arrival in Washington D.C., during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence. And, you know, that’s not a do-over, but I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess."
* On what he was unprepared for: "I think I was unprepared for war. In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack.' In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents — one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen.
* On how he judges his legacy: "The thing that's important for me is to get home and look in that mirror and say, I did not compromise my principles. And I didn't. I made tough calls. And some presidencies have got a lot of tough decisions to make."
* On Obama's election: "I think it was a repudiation of Republicans. And I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me. I think most people voted for Barack Obama because they decided they wanted him to be in their living room for the next four years explaining policy."

____________________________________________________________
Ryan

Sorry, but Ryan's corruption has killed people. I'm sure you've never tailgated anyone, you wouldn't be that stupid. That truck wouldn't have been on the road at that moment if that guy hadn't PAID for his license. The debris feel from the illegally licensed truck drivers truck. I'm pretty sure that makes Ryan partially responsible for their deaths.

"In another development in the scandal Tuesday, a trucker who triggered a deadly 74-vehicle pileup on a California highway in 1998 after paying a bribe in Illinois as a step toward getting a trucker's license voluntarily surrendered that license Tuesday, according to a spokesman for White."

And guess what, George W has admitted he is/was a terrible president who made a boat load of mistakes.

Do you have a source for that admission, Mimi? I would think that would be front page news.

If the democrats had any "balls", as you claim, how come they re-elected Blagojevich?

Ryan's corruption did not kill any children; a father who admitted he was tailgating and unable to swerve to miss debris on a highway killed his own children.

Have you thought about having actual facts, Mimi?

Once again, glock 22 opens his piehole and looks like an idiot. Why does this not shock me?! The miserable old man would like everyone to think that Democrats are going to line up behind Blago and scream "He's innocent!". Guess what glock 22, we all know he's corrupt, at least we have the balls to call a spade a spade. Unlike you and your Republican friends who will, until the day you die, say that George W. was a great president who did no wrong. And guess what, George W has admitted he is/was a terrible president who made a boat load of mistakes. Why can't you?

Oh, and didn't Ryan's corruption end up killing several children from one family? I'll bet even more people that we don't know about have died due to his corruption.

Have you thought about relocating to another country? Or at the very least a different state?

Bubo,

"Should Obama award a Presidential Medal to the President of Edward Hospital for her bravery? Bush should."

Are you kidding me? Davis would be well advised to sit down and shut up. She wants to talk about political corruption... well then let's talk about the nasty little secret of all the corruption that goes on in health care. Let's talk about medical equipment, medical implant devices, and drug companies and all the nice little kick-back and referral schemes.

Let's talk about how Edward Hospital used to be a government hospital and now it is a private non-profit hospital that is for all practical purposes owned, controlled, and operated by a small clique of extremely highly paid doctors. Let's talk about how this little clique controls all board member appointments and executive compensation with absolutely no responsibility or accountability to anyone. They have free reign and license to steal every penny they can stuff in their pockets along the way and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Let's talk about the millions of dollars worth of free public land Edward Hospital is sitting on. The money that should have been transfered to the citizens of Naperville for the fair market value of this land has instead found it's way into various pockets instead.

Let's talk about the almost total lack of free or truly charitable health care provided by Edward Hospital to the community at large. The real only "free" services Edward gives away are a joke. Yes, you will see them around town doing "screening" and such at all kinds of community events. The reality is that these screenings are nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to drum up new patients and new business, steer referrals to their doc's, etc. Those free tests they offer... you are hoping the results come back negative... Edward is hoping the opposite. And when it does come back positive they stand to make a whole bunch of money.

To be a non-profit hospital they are supposed to be providing free health care to the poor, the needy, and the indigent. Talk to all of the Naperville families that are out of work or the ones who have lost their homes through foreclosure and ask these people what free medical services any of them have received from Edward. Fact is if you can't pay you won't get past the front desk unless it is a life threatening emergency and even then, as soon as they stabilize a patient, they transfer them out to somewhere else.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Fact is the whole Plainfield hospital is all about power, ego, and making a bunch of money. If it was about treating patients then why isn't Edward proposing to build a new hospital on the west or south side of Chicago where there is an almost exact similar arrangement with availability of health care. If Plainfield was Dalton instead do you think for one minute that Edward would be proposing to build a new hospital.

Follow the money. And when you do follow the money you find greed and all the problems it brings. Corruption in the state of Illinois is not, by any means, limited to politics.

CROSS YOUR FINGERS

Make no mistake, Blagojevich is a Kingpin.

Blago is possibly looking at 30 years from the sound of it, Ryan only has five more to go then someone will pay him off with a job.

If Blago breaks Omerta, unlike Gov Ryan, potentially he can take hundreds with him as he testifies downwards against those below him.

The underlings can then take deals to testify on who paid off and who above them benefited like Congressmen, Senators and possibly Mayors. Maybe even new charges against Ryan, who is still maintaining his innocence.

Is Rezko the only Rezko? Unlikely, probably one of many.

Obama, and his Chief of Staff Rham Emanuel both worked directly for Blago., that was less than four years ago. Good thing Blago was clean then. Sure.

Are Jessie Jackson and his son losing sleep? So should the other contenders that wanted the Senate seat. Jackson who extorted the Chicago Coke franchise out of Coke Inc. certainly has the money Blago wanted.

According to Obama's employee, "Obama was talking to Blago" about the open seat before he was "not talking to him". Huh?

Is Rezko maintaining Omerta waiting for his pardon?

Has Durbin asked Bush to pardon Blago yet? Or, will he wait for Obama?

Can Obama pardon himself if he is implicated? Or, does he resign in exchange for a pardon from Pres. Biden?

Will Fitzgerald be blocked, fired or de-funded? I hope the media stays all over this one.

Was Obama tipped off about the wiretap in his briefings? Fitzgerald went silent on this question.

Does Obama, the beacon of integrity, still have 3 law firms working to keep his birth certificate and medical records from public view? Why?

Should Obama award a Presidential Medal to the President of Edward Hospital for her bravery? Bush should.

I hope the FBI is giving her 7x24 security while Rezko makes his mutli-year appeals. If she lives in Naperville, the City should begin providing her with discrete security in addition to anything the Feds may or may not be doing. Follow her to and from work and when she goes out.

There are a lot of headlines screaming about Blagojevich "setting a new low". I recognize this isn't going to sit well with the average person, but the "new low" was actually achieved when the citizens of this state elected this scum bag as governor. The people who voted for Blagojevich simply must accept responsibility for what they did and that was give Blagojevich the opportunity to do exactly what he did.

Rumors and allegations have hung over him for years. This was by no means a tightly kept secret. Yet voters made a conscious decision to vote for him. The citizens of this state got exactly what they wished for. Did anyone who voted for him really think he was going to change just because he was governor? When we vote for a scum bag we pretty much have to expect the scum bag will continue to do what they know best. When we vote for machine politicians we are voting for corruption.

If we want elected officials to conduct government business in an honorable manner we simply must start electing honorable people. Yes, it is nice to see your political party win and your party in office, but what matters most... which party is in power or that the person with the most integrity and honor has an opportunity to serve. If party politics are more important than honor and integrity just accept that beliefs like that are part of the problem and not part of the solution to rid ourselves of political corruption.

We really do need to go back to the original concept of citizens electing citizens to represent each other. People who are willing to do their best for a term or two and then turn it over to someone new. To end political corruption one of the first moves we all have to unite on is to get rid of every single one of the professional politicians. The longer they serve the more entrenched and more power hungry they become. With term limits it is simply impossible to build a power base within one or two elections. And until every voter realizes this and votes this way with personal conviction corruption will continue to run rampant in this state. A few will go to jail, some will get smarter on how they operate but unless the voters change the rules nothing is really going to change.

In Response to Anonymous at 11:06 pm. The constitutional convention vote was another catch 22. Until we vote and throw all the bums out, who would control how the convention is run. Yes, the same inept and corrupt politicians who will still control Springfield even after we are rid of Blago. Therefore I had to say no to a constitutional convention. Better to have a decent state constitution than one that allows more abuse of government. However your are dead on with the rest of your comments.

To glock 22:
I don't think you're paying attention. The Democrats we've heard from so far are tripping all over themselves to condemn Blagojevich. Every state-wide officeholder has asked for him to resign. The Democratic party won't be able to move forward until this guy is history, and for them, the sooner, the better. If Blago picks a U.S. Senator for Illinois, that person will have zero credibility.
We haven't heard much from DuPage's Democrats, yet. I bet they'll join the angry mob coming for Blago.

Aren't you GLAD we didn't support the CON-CON. Why would you want any of our politicians having a free hand to re-write our constitution?

At least now they have to bungle the job the old fashioned way.

Blago will look good in Federal Prison Orange. It was very slimming on Ryan.

To the Naperville Sun Editors...

Why do you suggest extremes? While it is hard to find the line that one crosses you could look for someone with "some experience". I know...how much time does it take for a politician to go bad! :-) And if you put someone with no experience in how long then before he (OR SHE!!!!) would go bad? And are all bad? Can someone exist if they are not. Very interesting to think about. No different than many other occupations. Power is so seductive!

It would be interesting to see now if Bush will commute Ryan in light of this. Daley has to be sleeping very nice tonight! :-) Do you think he had a little party tonight? I wonder if other politicians will be behaving a bit different now? Anyone a bit nervous? Ya, I almost wish the FBI waited a bit longer & got some other names.

I wonder what everyone who voted against the Constitutional Convention thinks today about how they voted and the sad fact that we all will now have to suffer through at least another 20 years of corrupt Illinois politics before anything can even possibly begin to change.

Is there no limit on the depth and breath of political corruption in this state? It doesn't seem to matter what the level of government, what the unit of government, or even the office. No matter where we turn, no matter where we look, no matter where we did we find corruption. Corruption has completely eroded the culture of our state and local government. There isn't a single elected official we can trust these days.

Governor Blagojevich ran on a platform of cleaning up corruption in Illinois and the voters believed him and now look at us. What can the next set of candidates for governor possibly say other than they will clean up corruption... the problem for them is that no one will believe them. The trust has been broken.

The only way I would even consider voting for another governor is if the candidate executes a letter of resignation prior to election day and files copies with the Illinois Attorney General and US Attorney which provide for an automatic resignation upon any indictment for corruption or similar "high crimes".

Governor is the highest office in the state. Forget any nonsense about innocent until proven guilty. A governor should be lily white in his personal and public life... we should expect AND demand no less. No grand jury is going to indict someone who conducts their office and personal life within the law. If they are breaking the law I really don't care about splitting hairs about what degree of corruption existed, now much or how little the laws were broken any more than I want to sit through another trial of an elected official listening to yet another scum bag attorney with no morals bastardize and abuse our legal system. Candidates for governor need to understand that they owe it to the voters of Illinois to conduct their personal and public business with honor, dignity, and respect. And if they can not conduct themselves as such they must understand we want them out of office immediately. The trust has been broken and they must each understand that it simply can not be rebuilt with second chances. One strike and you are out.

Lets hear the DuPage Democrats pipe up on this one. Like: he is innocent until proven guilty, these are only allegations, his corruption pales compared to Republican corruption and George Ryan, Bush and Cheney are bigger crooks etc. etc. etc. When is the unity rally? Where is the fundraiser for his legal defense? Good thing of all the corrupt pol's in Illinois, only Obama is squeaky clean. Sure he is! Yes we can! Change we need! This is really great for the economic vitality of the State. What did the FBI AIC/Chicago say: Its hard to imagine a better competitor than Illinois for government corruption. I can just see all kinds of business development coming to Illinois. And in the next election, the Democrats will just keep voting Democrat. Yes Mom, you too because as you always say, who is going to take care of the little guy if we don't vote for Democrat? We are ladies and gentlemen, the New Jersey of the mid-west. The new Michigan.

Move over, George Ryan! You're about to have company.

The penitentiary needs to designate a special "Illinois Governor's Wing" for these guys. I think they've earned it.

What do you think of this move? What does it mean for our state? Will this be the beginning of change for our political culture?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxx

Everyone else in State politics is clean? Sure.

Bank whistle blower says appraisal for Obama purchase replaced. FBI investigating.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/18/whistleblower-hits-obama-friends-appraisal/

Mrs Rezko?

Maybe this explains Durban's desire for Presidential pardons.

Quote from article:

"Rezko was a key supporter and donor throughout Mr. Obama's political career, with the Illinois Democrat estimating that Rezko raised $250,000 for his various political campaigns, though not for his presidential bid. The two were friends who talked frequently about politics and occasionally dined out together with their wives."

Blagojevich’s moral failures are obvious, but I want to know how long it will be until we know the identity of “Senate Candidate #5”, who is alleged to have offered (through intermediaries) $500K for Obama’s open Senate seat. This mystery person is almost certainly a current politician and just making such an offer should disqualify that person from ever holding public office again and possibly should also come with some quality time in an orange jumpsuit.

If the State had a mechanism to recall the governor, this wouldn’t have happened because Blagojevich would have been removed long ago.

T.B.

Sometimes I think that Illinois politicians are incapable of changing their ways. Blagojevich knew that the state was under a federal microscope and still tried to get away with everything he could. I guess he felt safe because only Republicans seemed to be the targets of prosecutors. It would be nice to get an honest government here, but I am afraid that is just a pipe dream.