WHAT AN ASSHOLE!

Blago: the gift that keeps on taking

Thirty-two blue Blagojevich signs were erected in 2004 at a cost of $480,000. They read: "Open Road Tolling --- Rod R. Blagojevich Governor." It will cost an estimated $15,000 apiece to change them.

Which reminds me - with Blago, Big Time, and the Rezzzidunce out of the way, is it time to turn our rage on Little Todd Stroger?

Great news! Blago back home safe (same day! wow, quick! it's great to have your own jet and stick somebody else with the tab) and went for a jog

"Yeah, it's unprecedented, but future generations will know that we have this thing called impeachment, and whenever any of our leaders, who are human beings like us, overstep the boundaries, the process is in place," Meeks said. "We have this thing called impeachment and it's bleeping golden and we've used it the right way."

This Murphy feller is coming out of this looking pretty good... not hard to imagine him beating whoever beats Quinn in the primary as the Democrat Party implodes in Illinois...

Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine, whom Senate Republicans have put in the spotlight during the impeachment process, offered a blistering critique of Blagojevich.

"He reminded us today in real detail that he is an unusually good liar," Murphy said. "We bent over backwards to make sure that this process was fair."

"His conduct this last week, though, is not why I'm voting to convict him," Murphy said. "It's pretty clear that he extorted or attempted to extort."

"He came down and wrapped himself in the constitution," Murphy said. "He's a hypocrite."

"Is there any real question in anybody's mind that the thing he saw as 'bleeping golden' he planned to use for his own benefit, not for the state of Illinois? I don't think so," Murphy said, referring to Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat.

the clinical evaluation is in: he's not crazy, he's just an @sshole

Though I think the full medical term is yooge PHOKKING @sshole...

He quotes poets at press conferences, but seldom takes questions. Reporters have seen him grab cell phones from complete strangers, interrupting conversations to say, "Hi, this is the governor." When lawmakers unanimously reject his proposal to tax businesses, he says that’s a vote of confidence.

Is Gov. Rod Blagojevich crazy?

The answer: Not exactly, according to experts in mental and personality disorders. But that doesn’t mean Blagojevich qualifies as normal.

"I’m not sure the question is about (mental) stability," says Dr. Joe Bohlen, a Springfield psychiatrist. "It may be more about personality."

"Personality," my friends...
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Still not official until it goes up on the mausoleum

Roland Burris sworn in as senator to replace Obama (AP)

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Yes, they hate health care reform... that must be it...

Blagojevich said he wasn't surprised by the impeachment vote, which he blamed on a Legislature that has blocked his attempts to pass, among other things, health care reform.

Jesse White Tumbles

Notice how eagerly he backpedals when faced with the horrific prospect of being the last one with his integrity intact...

Reid and Durbin said Burris' certificate, since it lacks White's signature, violates a Senate rule that has been in place since the 19th century.

"This has been a rule in the United States Senate since 1884," Durbin said. "We have never, ever (ever, ever, ever... ed.) waived this rule for any election or appointment.

"Everyone has to present a certificate, signed by the governor, cosigned by the secretary of state. ... So it's an important rule and one not easily challenged or changed," said Durbin, who noted that he has known Burris for decades.

White, however, disputed the claim that his signature was needed on Burris' certificate, saying Wednesday that he was the "fall guy" for politicians who oppose Burris.

"They could have seated him without my signature," White told WGN Radio. "It carries a lot of weight, but my signature is mostly ceremonial rather than being a point of law."

In other words, my opposition was strictly symbolic, not meant to be taken seriously, nothing to see here (move along), hey where are you guys going, don't leave me standing here, etc. etc.

From 'Yes We Can' to 'Ubi Est Mea'

'Paying no heed to what's right or wrong'

"In accepting this appointment to the Senate, Mr. Burris has done what was good for him, paying no heed to what is right or wrong, just as he did with Rolando Cruz."

Attorney Lawrence Marshall, one of the lawyers who helped obtain Cruz's acquittal in 1995 and who is now a professor at Stanford Law School, said in a separate interview, "Then and now, this is really the same person and the same behavior, which is that -- although I don't think Roland Burris is an evil man -- I do think his career has been about one thing and one only -- the advancement of Roland Burris."

Big shoes to fill, but then again he does have his own monument, so maybe he's up to it

News item: Senate Democrats plan to accept Roland Burris for President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat.

Blogger's spell-checker still doesn't recognize "Barack Obama," or "Blogger's," by the way.

A toast to Blago

That's the kind of scandal Americans can enjoy, and we'd forgotten how much fun they could be. These days when news of a big scandal breaks it means another hundred billion dollars went missing or another major industry collapsed. Except for your scandal, Rod. The fact that the country is a shambles has made your scandal all that much more fun. You're like the guy who shows up five minutes after the apocalypse and demands he get the 4% raise he was promised before the flames engulfed the earth.

And boy do you know how to milk it. You're not taking your lumps with dignity, doing what you can to limit the damage done. You're going down swinging. Christ, just yesterday you appointed someone to that Senate seat and made sure that anyone who challenges the appointment would be called a racist! You essentially called your legislature a lynch mob! That was fantastic!

You're beautiful Rod. You're clueless, you're guileless, and most of all, you're guilty as shit. And that hair. Oh man, that gorgeous hair.

You really cheered us up when we needed it, Rod. Thanks buddy. And Happy f**kin' New Year!

Blago finds his soulmate

Roland Burris's Monument to Me

Roland Burris, the man Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich picked to succeed Barack Obama in the Senate, might get to etch another accolade into the monument he built for himself if this appointment goes through. . .

two things to know about Blago's lawyer

1. Former clients like "Jimmy 'The Bomber' Catura (federal fraud, 1972) and Billy Dauber, feared mob enforcer, both ... later whacked by the Outfit... Pat Marcy, 1st Ward powerbroker and mob court fixer; 'Blind Louie' Cavallaro, juice loan collector and enforcer, and Jerry Scalise, Marlborough diamond jewel thief" aren't necessarily among his favorites, according to Carol Marin. "I know Eddie Genson may be prouder of the politicians he's represented than the mobsters, but honestly, isn't it sometimes almost a toss-up?"

2. He can't even figure out how to pronounce his own phokking name, according to the last minute and a half or so of this report.
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But how do you measure "most theatrically corrupt?"

Weisberg recognized that the "unmasking" of our governor "as a kleptocrat of Paraguayan proportion" finally gave Illinois "a real chance —its first in more than a generation — to defeat Louisiana in the NCAA finals of American political corruption."

Weisberg allowed that the Corporate Crime Reporter put Louisiana first in the nation for the period from 1997 to 2006 with 7.67 federal corruption convictions per 100,000 residents. Illinois, though its absolute numbers were bigger, managed only a 4.68 convictions ratio to finish "an embarrassing sixth. . ."

Over the past decade:

Sheer number of public officials convicted in federal courts of corruption -- Florida first with 824; Illinois seventh with 502.

Convictions per capita: the District of Columbia first with 66.9 per million residents per year. If you don't count DC (and the Virgin Islands and Guam), North Dakota first with 8.3; Illinois 22nd with 4.0.

A survey of journalists!!! Rhode Island first, Louisiana second, Illinois tenth. . .
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pray harder, dude

And you might want to set your sights on something a little more attainable, like the Cubs winning the World Series or an asteroid impact...

Acree and two other pastors — The Rev. Steve Jones, president of the Baptist Pastor's Conference, and the Rev. Marshall Hatch of the New Mt. Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church — arrived at the governor's home shortly after 8 a.m. and met with him for about 20 minutes.

Jones said they prayed with Blagojevich and his family. . .

Shortly after they left, a fourth minister, the Rev. Leonard Barr of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, arrived at the governor's house with his wife, Rita.

He said they were invited by the governor and that the two "prayed that he would continue to be a great governor for the state of Illinois."
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You know you're a YOOOGE scumbag...

... when Dan Walker thinks you're a scumbag.

A disgrace to the state
By Dan Walker
December 11, 2008

While I admittedly erred in my private life 10 years after serving as Illinois governor—and paid the price for my mistakes—I am too proud of my state and my unblemished service as governor to remain silent about the despicable conduct of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
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More (cont'd): Zell "sensitive" to Blago's "issue"

You're a newspaper. The governor of your state--a governor who has had the stink of corruption on him for years--has his people call you up and directly state that they'll help you out if you fire members of your editorial board. It is a phone conversation that not only wipes its ass on the ethical lines it crosses, it also treats the First Amendment like it's optional. And you don't report it? Why?

There's only one reason: Zell was entertaining the offer. . .

The Tribune could have and should have run the story of Blagojevich's call to Tribune Tower in 200 point type. They should have printed it in Rod's own blood. They would have brought down a sitting governor the same week that they were trumpeting the win of Obama. They would have pushed the Tribune's brand into the stratosphere, at just the time that it needed it.

But they didn't. Faced with a defining moment in journalism--this was the kind of story that we would have taught in journalism schools for years--Sam Zell decided not to do the right thing. It's not surprising--the guy is a waxed mustache away from tying a damsel in distress to a railroad track after all--but it's still a shock.

I know, I know... I'll get over it

(Crain's) — Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to shake down Children’s Memorial Hospital’s CEO in exchange for $8 million in state health care funding, according to a federal affidavit unsealed Tuesday detailing corruption charges against the governor.

Mr. Blagojevich on Oct. 8 discussed with one of his campaign fundraisers pressing the executive — named in the criminal complaint as “Hospital Executive 1” — for a $50,000 campaign contribution, allegedly a quid pro quo for the governor’s recent funding commitment, according to the affidavit.

“I’m going to do $8 million for them. I want to get (Hospital Executive 1) for 50,” Mr. Blagojevich told the fundraiser, according to the 78-page affidavit.