By Chris Magee
Night editor
Sen. Roland Burris has concluded his "listening tour" of the state and is on his way back to Washington.
"Listening" is the key word here. I guess for Burris, listening means hearing, not paying attention to what you hear. Politicians and regular citizens alike from around the state have been calling for Burris to resign, but he doesn't seem to have heard this. The clamor got too loud, so Burris had to flee back to Washington.
We've seen this scene before, under eerily similar circumstances. Remember former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was accused of wrongdoing and was implored by everyone to step down, but insisted he had done nothing wrong? Remember when he appointed Burris to this job when everyone said he had no business making the appointment? Remember in January when Burris was able to secure confirmation after distancing himself from Blagojevich, insisting he had not had any questionable dealings with Blagojevich?
Fast forward to February, when the story starts to change. A week or so ago, Burris released an affidavit saying he had spoken to several Blagojevich advisers, including Robert Blagojevich, the former governor's brother and finance chairman, who Burris said called three times last fall asking for fundraising help. Then the story changed again. He admitted he had tried to raise money for Blagojevich.
Of course, the controversy isn't his fault. He blames the media. They had the temerity to report his actions, and it's really all a big misunderstanding. This sounds familiar from the Blagojevich saga as well. It's always the media's fault because we have the tendency to examine what our politicians are doing instead of just taking their word for it. I can see how that would be annoying.
Burris has this ability to project a sort of baffled innocence, as if he would never even imagine doing something wrong and he can't comprehend that anyone would think he did. This attitude probably helped him win approval for his seat to begin with. Now he's hoping that if he keeps this up long enough, the controversy will pass him by again.
The state is exploring perjury charges, and the Senate ethics committee has begun an investigation. I don't think anything will come of this, and Burris doesn't seem like the resigning type, as was evident from his confirmation fight.
The best guess here is that Burris will stay in office, but most people will think he's a crook and won't want to work with him. So Illinois will end up with an ineffective senator for the next two years.
Maybe Burris will prove me wrong. Maybe he'll realize that he's tainted and has been ever since he was appointed by an accused governor. Maybe he'll realize he is a distraction for his state, his party and his president. Maybe he'll step down. Anything could happen.
The last three months of Illinois politics have made that abudantly clear.
I think Burris is going to be harder to get rid of than Blago. Everyone knows he wanted this senate appointment so much he was willing to eat a mile of you-know-what to get it. Looks like he's going to have to eat a lot more to keep it!
Burris never should have said "I've done nothing wrong" after hearing Blago repeat the exact same words for weeks. I watched the video of the hearing and do think he perjured himself. He was asked directly, twice, if he had been approached by Robert Blago. A simple yes would have been truthful, but after consulting with his lawyer, he chose an evasive answer, something that sounded like "Friends knew I was interested in the senate seat". Burris is using the same screwy logic that Blago did. Blago tried to sell the senate seat, but since his arrest stopped this activity, he technically didn't do it. Burris tried to raise money for Blago, but since none of his friends would contribute, he technically didn't do this either. Deja vu all over again.
Burris, like Blago, will not step down, he will have to be removed. Both these guys are in this for themselves. They couldn't care less about what's best for Illinois, their party, or their president.
Free Press?
The Democrats, as part of their effort to create a one party state, like Venezuela or Russia are using the same state-run anti-free-press-intimidation-tactics; in Orwellian Double Speak it’s called the “fairness doctrine”. The FEDs via the FCC can shut down the opposition media by pulling their broadcast licenses. Putin must be proud to see the US imitating him, what a validation of his policies.
Short of Reincarnating the Founding Fathers (I think the event that triggered the revolution was a 3% sales tax) via DNA based cloning, how do you remove Federal Elected Officials from Illinois?
Since the State Governments have been transformed into little more than gophers for the FEDs, do they have the ability to impeach a Senator, we already know they can’t limit their terms. Harry Reid blew off Burris's apparent perjury yesterday, don't look for the US Senate to do anything.
Has the SUN asked our state reps and "reform Governor Quinn" if they can or will remove Burris.
CENTRALIZED POWER
*After the Civil War, the Constitution was fixed to give the FEDs the ability to guarantee FED debt with our homes. Ironic that the same amendment that freed the slaves put everyone in bondage for the FED credit card. All of us are on the hook to the domestic and increasingly foreign creditors of the USA. We all work for China now.
*President Wilson got a constitutional amendment passed so he could participate in WW1. The income tax would only be used against the richest 1 percent of the population. We are all in the richest 1 percent now. Many believe this was another Wall Street bail out for the holders of UK War Bonds.
*Republicans thought it would be nice to have direct elections of US Senators, instead of having them appointed by the 50 State Assemblies. This gave us our 100 free agent Senate that is up for the highest bidder on any bill. China pumped $200 million into K Street Lobbyist Companies and got the "Free Trade Deal" which has cost the USA 1 Trillion of our industrial base shipped out in crates along with approx 5 million manufacturing jobs. The Bushes are in China up to their eyeballs, including both Presidents and one Uncle who headed up the US Chamber of Commerce in China.
*My recollection is that along the way to centralizing all power in DC, the Constitution was changed so the House, Senate and President have to originate the changes (amendments). Give up power i.e. personal income opportunities, sure. After they nationalize health care, will we have to kiss their rings and bow so our kids can get the operation?
*When States passed term-limits on Federal Office Holders, the Courts ruled them unconstitutional; surprise you can't rid of them by limiting their stay in DC. Hugo Chavez just got this for himself in Venezuela and Putin will have it Russia before too long. It’s good to know we beat Russia and Venezuela to lifetime leaders. I read that Democrats are floating the idea of eliminating term limits for President Obama, Presidential term limits were passes before FDR's body went cold. FDR knew how to buy a vote, apparently old habits die hard.
Oh, Bubo, not again! The Democrats, as part of their effort to create a one party state, like Venezuela or Russia, actually slapped down the Fairness Doctrine the other day. Yes, it is no more, compliments of Obama, a Democratic president! The FCC can no longer try to shut down the opposition media by pulling their broadcast licenses. Bummer. I have no idea how this tidbit of reality will fit into your conspiracy theories, but I'm sure you guys will figure it out. Let the spin begin!
What the?
Pelosi and others keep throwing out the idea as way to intimidate critics of their policies. Pelosi is the Speaker of the US House of Reps.
Russia continually threatening their neighbors without actually doing anything seems to be working pretty well for intimidation. So do the threats from Pelosi and others who hold powerful jobs in the government.
Unfortunately, we have to take people like Pelosi seriously.
How did you like Obama's speech on nationalizing health care yesterday. "To save our children from debt we have to spend more money".
Orwellian Double Speak at its best.
Bubo how is your basement bomb shelter survival bunker and gold supply doing? I hope you're adequately prepared for the when dollar isn't worth the paper it's printed on and we're forced to hunt, gather, and trade material goods to survive after the Democrats finish ruining our country.
I've got rations for 4.5 years stored up, which should last me long enough for the Palin/Wurzelbacher administration to fix things.
NO WAY Burris would ever resign willingly or on his own. Face it, Burris is a another used up political hack who's sole claim to fame is that Blago's SPITE of the system put him in office. So now, for better or worse, he will forever have his name in the history books.
All those filthy rich senators who have waged multi-million dollar election campaigns just so they could buy their way into the history books must be fuming that someone as poor as Burris snuck in the back door without paying his dues! What a hoot!
Burris knows as well as you or me that no one is going to vote to reelect him. He has no money so there is no way he will be able to run a campaign for another term either. He is a lame duck who has two years to salt away his retirement nest egg... unless the feds keep an eye on him too.
Rahmbo,
I missed you.
After reading your last post that concedes all of the arguments and facts, I now realize that I have misread the situation.
Obama is a closet conservative gun nut pushing universal gun ownership. I see that gun sales are still hitting record numbers; in fact they jumped again in January. Even Liberals are buying after voting for "the one". He may be a better gun salesman the Clinton, which is no small feat. Anybody that can convince Liberals to buy guns is a great salesman.
Obama appears to be a secret day trader shorting the entire stock market, then driving it down with every speech. He must be a closet capitalist. He may be worth more than Gates and Buffet at this point even if he started with one dollar.
Obama is a closet survivalist and wants everyone to be ready for the coming calamity, gold coin sales volumes at ever higher prices continue to accelerate with every speech he makes.
Obama secretly supports home schooling which is why he has his staff working on the next legislative item, nationalization of the school system. Lets see National Gay day, Abortion day, Big Government day, Union day, global warming day, UN day; there is no end to the educational opportunities coming down the road from the university elite that loves our kids more than we do. It's important to shape those little minds early.
If the Sun’s server is still up after 50% of our power production goes off line when the bankrupt coal fired power plants go out of business, send me a post and I'll put a can of spam, a pack of matches, some sting and a pocket knife out for you so we can continue to remake the country better than ever. Who knows, maybe Obama invested with Al Bore and stands to make a killing when green power is forced on the redneck voters that don't live in big urine soaked cities?
I have to go now so I can run to the store and buy some spam before Obama realizes that he hasn’t collectivized the farms yet and food production collapses. I wonder if he is into futures along with his other endeavors. Lots of money in Pork Bellies.
I'm not entirely sure that my gold doubloon stockpile will even be worth anything in the post-Obama apocalypse. I think at it's crux gold will be as worthless as the American dollar because you can't eat gold... So I've been thinking about diversifying some of my stockpile from precious metal bars and coins to easily tradable individually packaged foodstuffs like military MRE's, Campbell's chunky soup, twinkies, and other non-perishables with an infinite shelf life.
I've completely given up on investments and property as a way to secure my self worth under an Obama administration. Stocks and bonds are close to not being worth the paper they're printed on, and who knows what records will exist after rioting mobs ransack the financial institutions as soon as law enforcement loses the morale to continue enforcing martial law. Property you can't defend also isn't worth the time or effort to secure it. People without our foresight to prepare for the fall of the Obama nation will stop at nothing to steal the things we've prepared ourselves with. When faced with inevitable starvation, even the most liberal peace-loving college student Obamite becomes a cold blooded killer and relentless thief.
I picked up a foreclosed house for a few thousand dollars in Sandwich with a long and easily defendable point of entry to the property. Another thing nice about it is it an existing fencing and security system, which I've been working on enhancing with razor wire and proximity sensors. The house already has a large basement, but we've been trying to excavate additional space while preserving the lawn, in order to have separate dormitory, storage, and munitions/fuel processing areas all the while maintaining the outside appearance of a run down single family ranch house.
Something I've been thinking about doing, but haven't put much effort towards is stockpiling wear items for common models of cars and motorcycles. The logic being after the brake pad factory shuts its doors and turns its workers out on the streets, what's stopping them from just burning it down in a lawless post-Obama financial apocalypse? Having the materials to service common cars and motorcycles, as well as convert existing diesels to run on unrefined biodiesel might put me at a remarkable advantage compared to the unprepared hordes who are left with nothing when the system crumbles around them at the hand of Democratic leadership.
The process has already begun... The only choices we're left with is prepare, starve, or hope you know someone generous with the foresight to store extra rations.
Rambo
LOL
How could I have missed the ultimate food supply Twinkies, especially since the company just came out of chapter 7 and is a local company. Twinkies are patriotic! And the mold and bacteria wont eat them before you do.
For your homestead, don't forget to build step up platforms for your basement, its hard to shoot straight standing on your tows.
Don't worry too much about the banks and government buildings, the Army is retraining for civil disturbances in SC as we speak, I think it's the 3rd Infantry division. The talk track is they are preparing for a nuclear strike or bio attack against a major American City. This is probably the reason we are emptying Gitmo, so we have someone to attack us.
I've begun to wonder if Pres Obama is hiding his birth certificate because he was secretly born in a mountain cabin in Idaho with no running water, electricity, or a phone; completely off the grid. Perhaps he is emptying Gitmo and releasing the terrorists so that he can jump over the boring stuff and implement that last chapter in the Turner Diaries. Have we ever seen him with his shirt off, there may be an Aryan Nation tattoo on him somewhere, if his hair gets any shorter we could look at skin head identifiers. Has anyone really seen the top of his head, umm why are they hiding this from us on CSPAN?
Don't forget to buy your 50 Cal riffle, they are good for all kinds of things like knocking down black helicopters, stopping unarmored vehicles by shooting the engine block or taking out five to seven looters (there may a disclaimer for body mass and ballistic armor, the lawyers are inserted into everything these days) at a time as they come up the street. The base model goes for around $4K; don't forget to get the recoil suppressor to avoid a sore shoulder after a long day of mowing down looters.
If you get overrun, you can always switch to your 1911 with hollow points, it'll stop em in the door frame. I recommend the original steel model, when the ammo runs out you can use is as a club.
Strongly suggest you rent Omega Man and Soilent Green (the original global warming movie from the early 70's), and have a Heston marathon while reading your back issues of guns and ammo.
Maybe you can get some tips on fortifying your bunker house from Heston; classical music with martinis when sniping are must haves.
Don't forget to prepare for the secret U.N. army hiding in the abandoned salt mines underneath Detroit. That being said though, I'm not sure what this has to do with Roland Burris.
Chris Chris Chris,
Burris is the extra vote the right wingers needed to implement "the Plan", the Blago thing was just a distraction to get him in bypassing the unreliable election process.
WSJ had some good articles today, one on the (was it 167% increase) in gold coin and gold bullion deliveries to end customers that want to hold the stuff in their hands; end customers were described as wealthy individuals and red necks.
As soon as I finish shopping for the best deals on Twinkies and canned spam I may buy some if its still below $2000.
Thanks for clearing that up, Bubo. I read a book you might enjoy. It's called "Caliphate" and is by Tom Kratman. Seems like something you'd enjoy.
Rambo
"after the Democrats finish ruining our country"
----------------------
Do you mean finish the job Dubbya started?
Civics,
The Obama double speak talk track goes something like since W run up the credit card don't lecture me when I go completely insane running it up with Burris as the vote that got him his filibuster proof one party state.
While I don't know if Rambo was serious or joking (I couldn't resist having some fun), the story he gave is becoming more common literally every day.
I had the exact same conversation at a lunch counter with a successful salesman (this guy has a route in a big populated state selling mostly to small businesses) who had just purchased a distressed property in the mountains outside his city with another family that they were provisioning for an end of organized government scenario; like when the Soviet Union's Employees packed up and went home. Yeltsin stepped in and paid the Army or total anarchy would have ensued, actually it did anyway but Boris had the tanks.
He also reported that his personal associations, many small business owners, were out buying guns and ammo; many buying their first gun/s. He had an additional 5000 rounds on his shopping list for his riffle.
I would say the between the Obama fear machine, effectively a one party state that is pursuing collectivization and redistribution, the failed ideology of free tradeism, record gun sales, record (4x) ammunition sales, gold coin sales accelerating, a Federal Government with little to no credibility, anarchy with 1MM gang bangers and 30 million illegals, many people's life savings vaporized, things don't look very promising.
If I understood the Beck (and the retired CIA and military guy) show last night, approximately 50% of the population now views the Federal Government as essentially an unconstitutional entity, ie an illegitimate government. Again, if I understood correctly this is up from 30% a few weeks or months ago. Its guaranteed that our leaders have the same numbers since this is what the Army is actively retraining for.
When 90% of the population (calls, letters and faxes to Congress) doesn't want:
*Amnesty, and the Feds try to pass it
*Bank owner bail outs, and the Feds pass it
*A Trillion Dollar wealth transfer and the FEDs pass it.
One has to ask, who do they represent?
Bubo: I'm pretty sure Rambo was poking fun at your doomsday scenario posts. He was being sarcastic, not serious. So was Chris. But that's ok, even if you missed it, it's funny stuff. Especially your reply. Kinda nuts, but funny.
"By What the? on February 26, 2009 8:49 AM
Bubo: I'm pretty sure Rambo was poking fun at your doomsday scenario posts. He was being sarcastic, not serious. So was Chris. But that's ok, even if you missed it, it's funny stuff. Especially your reply. Kinda nuts, but funny."
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Actually, Chris was dead on, the UN army has left their secret training camps in Haiti and moved into the salt mines, I heard it on my new gold tooth last night as I slept. ;-)
You're a wild and crazy guy, Bubo!
Yeah, so ummmm...I guess Roland Burris Jr, who is being sued by the IRS for 34,000.00 in back taxes and is going through possible foreclosure on his home was appointed to a 75,000.00 position with the new stimulus jobs...wait for it...helping people that are close to losing homes to foreclosure.
Roland Burris senior has no comment.
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