Blago and the Kids Killed In Drive-Bys

It doesn't surprise me that many people are ready to put the Blagojevich case behind them.

"IL is short on money and 12 year olds are getting shot in Chicago by gangs, but there is money to keep spending on a victimless crime like the Blago case," says one Facebookian. "Why are we wasting money on this? It's pointless. We give him too much press. If you want to hurt him, ignore him," says another. Yet a third says, "Let it go. He's been kicked out of office, and found guilty of a felony. Send him off to do his time and get on with other more important things."

It's no wonder we continue to have corruption in Illinois government. Folks like these don't see cause and effect.

Let me put it in terms they might be able to understand.

Say your parents leave all their money, every dollar, in cash hidden in their mattress. That's the money they use to feed and clothe you, to take you to Six Flags, to buy you Christmas presents.

On a regular basis, your big brother steals money from the mattress to buy games for his computer. Your dad goes into the mattress to pay for a few hookers. Your mom steals just because she knows the cash is there.

Pretty soon, your parents start telling you, you can't have new clothes for school this year. No more Cap'n Crunch for breakfast. No extra cash for the rides at Six Flags. And come Christmas, well, you get a nice orange in your stocking but not much else.

Let's make it even more personal. Your brother then takes your computer and sells it. He gives your bike to one of his friends.

Pretty soon, your parents tell you they have to move to a tiny apartment and you can't have your own room. In fact, you have to share a bed with your brother.

Think that's a silly comparison? You think Illinois politicians don't work like that?

Wait 'til after the fall elections when your "parents" show you their plan for taking back some of that money you earned working at the drugstore, L'il Tommy. Money they "need" because their mattress is getting empty.

"Why's the mattress empty, Mom and Dad?" Gosh, son, we don't know. But if you want to keep living here, you have to turn your paycheck over to us every month.

We'll keep taking care of you, son. Trust us.

Wake up, Illinois.

Governor Rod may try to cover himself with the bodies of dead kids so you don't notice, but he committed crimes that affect every single one of us. He tried to SELL a bleeping U.S. Senate seat for crying out loud.

Sure that kind of thing gets done under the table all the time. But THIS time, there's evidence. THIS time the Feds almost nailed him.

I say retry the mope until he's convicted and put him away until those thousand- dollar suits of his turn to rags.

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.