Defense Games and the Blago Kids

The trial of Governor Blagojevich is about to go to the jury. What a relief.

As I've said before, I don't think the G made its case on the major counts. It just didn't come across that way in news reports, anyway. Maybe if I'd been a juror sitting there day in and day out...

I hope the prosecution nails him. I'd like to see the slimey, shifty, sneaky SOB go away for a few years somewhere there are no TV cameras and no soft shoulders of the media to cry upon. Because that's precisely what the media has allowed him to do. At every opportunity. It's been shameless, one-sided coverage with no real attempt to determine what damage he might have done had he succeeded in his schemes.

The media has allowed him to bob and weave and shake his finger and smile and sign autographs and act the boob right there on TV. It's let him get away with bringing his kids to court, without finding social workers or shrinks to tell us how really damaging that can be.

The media loves a show, and Blago's lawyers have certainly put one on.

They've argued (in the media...so far the judge won't let them say it in front of the jury) that the Government didn't call certain witnesses because their testimony might have been helpful to the defense. Oh please. The "missing witness" defense is as classic as "if everything goes against you, attack the lawyers."

If Sam Adam and Company felt so strongly that the uncalled witnesses could have helped them, why didn't they subpoena them for the defense? In fact, why did the defense roll over at the last minute and call NO witnesses in Blago's favor, even Hair himself?

Cross examination.

So, instead of sitting up there like a man and taking the prosecution's shots in an effort to make his own case, our former governor brings his kids to the courtroom as a distraction for the jury.

It's all a show, something that has defined Illinois politics for years.

Reality happens behind closed doors. And, thanks to the rollover Illinois media, it's allowed to stay there.

Believe What You Will

My friend, Lindsey, gave me the news earlier this week.

Doctors found cancer in her brother Eric's pancreas last Friday. He is 25.

Lindsey's family was devastated.

I prayed for them.

I prayed as an older member of my church once suggested, by asking for a miracle. Hey, it sure doesn't hurt to ask.

I was going to write a note to the Uplift Team at church today, in fact, to get some help in prayer.

Just now, however, Lindsey texted me:

"You will never believe this. I still don't. They called this afternoon and said it was a fluke.

"There was nothing there.They did the test over twice and his pancreas is completely normal.But the test they did last Friday...the doc was sure it was cancer.It's unbelievable.They said it must've just been a shadow, but these docs are the best of the best...."

Nope, I said.They may be good, but they aren't The Best.

Choose to explain this any way you wish. My feeling is...for those who read this and who are not Believers...here's your invitation!

Praise God.

Another Chicago Cop Murdered

I'm damned angry. If you live, and vote, in the city of Chicago, you should be, too.

Officer Michael Bailey was 62, just weeks away from mandatory retirement.

A Chicago police officer for twenty years, he was shot in his own driveway. He was still in uniform, having returned home after a shift spent guarding Mayor Daley's home.

Think about that. He was in uniform! What does that say about the people who attacked him? What does that say about the climate of violence in that one South Side neighborhood? In fact, he's the second off-duty cop still in uniform to be killed this month.

How ironic that he was part of Mayor Richard Daley's security team. Mayor Daley, the guy who says the city's wallet is empty and he can't afford to hire more cops. Mayor Daley, the guy who doesn't want law-abiding citizens to own handguns but allows violent criminals to feel so safe on the streets that they brazenly attack a uniformed police officer in his own driveway.

Will it make a difference that Daley personally knew this fine, brave copper? Of course not. He'll make a few meaningless media statements and perhaps attend Bailey's funeral. I certainly hope he is not allowed anywhere near a lectern on that sad day.

The City of Chicago needs to hire more cops. At least enough to replace those who are leaving in record numbers. Will that happen? No. As John Kass points out in the Tribune, "(The) mayor and his rubber-stamp council have spent all the money. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of deals went to the cronies. And now there's no money left to hire cops."

I absolutely believe that to be true. He's cheated you and the city and now, not even his cops are safe.

Be angry. Be furiously angry.

Better yet, come November, be votingly angry.

Mayor Daley's Reality

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has made it clear. He only supports the idea of cops, politicians and his well-connected friends owning handguns. He certainly doesn't want the Average Windy City Joe or Josephine to have that privilege.

I figure that following all the new requirements set forth in the Daley gun ordinance will take about five or six years, especially if I'm right and the mayor has ordered that his new bureaucracy run as slowly as a kid to get a cavity filled.

Daley purports to be against gun violence. His argument appears to be...if you keep guns away from legitimate buyers, there won't be any guns. No matter that the "illegitimate buyers", AKA the bad guys, never paid attention to his gun ban and now have no interest in the red tape of his new law. They buy their guns where they can find them. Yes a certain number of them are stolen from legitimate owners, but that number is so infinitesmal it really doesn't matter. Accidental deaths from gun accidents are also a concern but they aren't what's killing innocents on an average of two or three a night.

Daley, as usual, is all about political puffery, not protecting his citizens. I'm sure his argument seems logical to those who work in lofty offices and listen to NPR all day and have never fired a handgun (ewwe those scary things? Never! cries Buffy from her 25th floor Lincoln Park condo with doorman and security) but all it does is show me how shallow and desperate he really is.

As usual, the regular guy suffers.