Just when you thought the horror show that is Illinois politics was coming to an end more information surrounding the appointment of “Senator” Burris, the replacement for the vacant Barack Obama Senate seat, has come to the attention of the public. Wouldn’t you know it, Roland Burris offered to write a check to then Governer Blagojevich.

Sen. Roland Burris was recorded on an FBI wiretap suggesting that he could write a check to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign before the ousted governor appointed Burris to the Senate.

Sources say that on the tape, Burris suggests that he could contribute, or have associates contribute, money to the Blagojevich campaign. Burris also expresses desire to be appointed to the U.S. Senate.

Burris’ lawyer, Timothy Wright told CBS 2 that after that conversation, Burris decided against making any contribution. However, the Sun-Times reports that Burris never disclosed that information in an affidavit detailing his actions before he was appointed by Blagojevich.

Doesn’t anyone find it coincidental that Burris is doing exactly what the federal prosecutors accused Blagojevich doing –  Soliciting bids for the Senate seat. Burris is just as crooked as Blagojevich.  He knew exactly what he was doing when he made the offer, just like he was very aware of the fact that he “forgot” to disclose the information while the affidavit was being drawn up.

I’m waiting to hear Burris play the race card, just like I am waiting for him to come out and say that he was “misquoted” or “misunderstood”. The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee need to wake up and give this guy the ax.  He, and his placement by Blagojevich, is a disgrace to the political system.  I just hope someone has the balls to stand up and say enough is enough.

As of roughly 4:38 PM central time, Rod Blagojevich was no longer the Governor of Illinois.  Almost immediately after, Democratic Lt. Governor Patrick Quinn was sworn into office.  Sure, Blagojevich, made a pointless hour long speech today, trying to say he did nothing wrong, but if he really wanted to prove his innocence… maybe he would have wanted to show up at the trial instead of running around New York making talk show appearances.

What I find really interesting to see is how quickly Senator Roland Burris threw Blagojevich under the bus – “it shows loud and clear that there were serious hurdles keeping the governor from doing his job.”  It didn’t keep him from doing his job when he appointed you to the vacant Senate seat, did it now Senator Burris?

I know that political machine of today seems to have corruption interwoven into all aspects of it, but when the corruption is finally stopped – when the blatant abuse of power is confronted – it’s a wonderful thing to see.  

See ya, Blago.

The Stimulus Plan

So I am having a hard time finding specific information regarding all aspects of the Stimulus Plan, and I don’t really have the time to read it line by line right now, but I may have to in order to dig up the facts.

The two things I did find, however, I am rather bothered by.

1. Undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for a Social Security number can file tax returns with an alternative number. A House-passed version of the economic recovery bill and one making its way through the Senate would allow anyone with such a number, called an individual taxpayer identification number, to qualify for the tax credits.
2. The Make Work Pay Credit also would be refundable, meaning that even tax filers without any income tax liability — typically very low-income workers — would receive one.

The point of number 1 could be seen a number of ways.  Being the cynic that I am, I see a large push by the Democratic party to buy the votes of hundreds of thousands of potential voters.  Why potential?  The “undocumented immigrants” is a nice way of saying “illegal”.  Eventually the Democratic majority will push to legalize “undocumented immigrants”, and they will be successful, and when the next round of elections comes calling they will remember who fought for, and successfully provided them, money.

As for point number 2…If you do not pay income taxes, you should not be getting income taxes back.  That is the whole point of a tax refund – you are refunded money you gave in the last year.  Kinda hard to refund something you didn’t pay, isn’t it?  In order to provide the capital for a refund to those who didn’t pay income taxes means the country will need to add additional debt and/or raise taxes.  

Let’s cut through the political speak and call it what it is: socialism.  

People should read up on Marx to see what comes after socialism.

Obama’s Letter to Iran

I find this to be very, very interesting.  

President Obama is drafting a letter to Iran, specifically to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , in hopes of opening official US-Iranian relations.  I find the choice of Khamenei to be very interesting because the US administration is bypassing the President of Iran.  Could this be a political move to have the Ayatollah support another candidate, say like Seyd Mohammad Khatami, who happens to be seen as a reformer as well as a positive force in US-Iranian relations…

If this letter is sent, does this also mean the US foreign policy of not talking  (well, negotiating) with terrorist organizations?  If that is the case, I wonder what the impact of such a decision will be AND does the U.S. Department of State have a plan in place for any positives or negatives?

This has the potential to be a huge political win for President Obama… or a major embarrassment….

At this very moment I happen to be watching a new Discovery Channel program called “One Way Out” and I’, not sure if the host is a total nut job, highly intelligent or both.  I’ll tell you this, it’s quite entertaining to watch.  It’s almost part Jackass and part Myth Busters.

It’s not for the faint of heart though.  

Anyway, there a number of things that happened today that I have some thoughts about.  Let’s start with Illinois Politics

Rod Blagojevich 

The impeachment trial of Rod Blagojevich started today, and guess what… we wasn’t there!  He decided that the trial “wasn’t fair” and simply decided he wasn’t going to show up.  Instead he was all over talk shows this morning acting as if this was no big deal.

When pressed on comments he allegedly made about selling the open Illinois Senate seat he said “I can’t confirm or deny anything when I haven’t had the chance to hear all the tapes. Whatever the tapes are, they will speak for themselves, I was working to try to make the right decision for the people of Illinois.” 

Is saying “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and I’m just not giving it up for fucking nothing. I’m not gonna do it.” really looking out for the people of Illinois.  Yes, anything can be taken out of context, but there is a lot more in the transcripts that point to him trying to profit from the open position. Eventually, one can no longer take it out of context and see it is clear he was attempting to profit for himself and his wife.

The arrogance this man shows is amazing.

Timothy Geithner

As expected, the Senate confirmed Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary.  Let’s face it, the man is a crook. He cheated on his taxes multiple times and he employed an illegal immigrant.  He didn’t pay his taxes until it was clear he was going to be nominated for the treasure secretary, which makes one wonder if he would have ever paid at all if this position never came along.

Again, I want to know where the outrage is – in the press, in the Democratic and Republican parties, and the public in general.  A man who could not pay his taxes (either he forgot or chose to) is now in charge of the Internal Revenue Service.

More and more layoffs

When looking at things I could see happening in 2009, I suggested that economists were being overly optimistic and that I believe unemployment could hit 10%. All of a sudden the experts are starting to wonder the same thing. Today alone major corporations in the United States announced 40,000 layoffs.  40,000 in one day.  

Last year the economy lost 2.6 million jobs, this year has the potential to match that number.  With the public worried about their jobs, or if they will be able to pay the bills tomorrow, why would big purchases on their mind?  Easy answer, they wouldn’t be.  Unless some massive tax credit is provided to people who buy a home, the real estate market won’t be picking up any time soon… nor will the automotive industry (though, I would never expect the government to offer large tax credits for stimulate the auto industry at this point).

I still believe things will get worse before they get better.

Well, off to finish my TheraFul… still trying to shake this flu/cold.

“We are hoping and praying that they will not be able to deny what the Lord has ordained,” 

Is Burris trying to say that Rod Blagojevich is God, seeing Blagojevich is the person who appointed him to the open IL senate seat?

I have no desire to go into the details of this circus, you can read about it here, I just think that Burris could have chosen his words with more care.

Dear god, please don’t let it start like this.  That was my initial reaction when I found out the news about Blagojevich. 

Quick recap - Yesterday, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested by Federal Agents for:

Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism.”  U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

 Almost immediately Obama came out and said the following:

“I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening, ” Obama told reporters today in Chicago. “It’s a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.”

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is not implying there is a connected between president elect Obama and Blagojevich. There is, however, a conflict between what Obama said yesterday about having no connection with Blagojevich and naming the next Senator.

Look at what David Axelrod, Obama political consultant, previously stated:

Axelrod also came out yesterday saying he previously misspoke and that Obama/Blagojevich had no discussion regarding the open Senate seat.

With all the other topics facing the nation, I hope the media does not make a scandal out of what appears to be nothing. More harm than good would come out of such a situation. If Obama did break the law the, yes, he needs to be held accountable but I would NOT want to see such a situation…