Free Blago!

God, how I miss Rocket Rod Blagojevich. Channeling Elvis, wielding the 'The Football' to keep his immaculate, shiny black 'doo' perfectly coifed, Blago was a reality show producer's dream. After seeing him sweating profusely in shorts and tee shirt, running around, grasping the crowd at the Wheaton Fourth of July Parade during his gubernatorial heyday, I knew he was more than a little bit 'off'.

But Blago was a Grabowski, not a Rockefeller, unlike his current successor, Billionaire Bruce Rauner.

As incompetent as Blago was as governor, he never consciously stuck it to the poor and the needy like Governor 1%. Blago had one pad, a North Side Bungalow. He loved living there among the working stiffs; while Billionaire Bruce has so many million dollar showplaces acquired demolishing good companies as vulture capitalist, he can bed down in a different one every night of the week. Blago connected with union workers; Bruce can't wait to disconnect them from their lifeline to a livable paycheck. Blago championed improving the lives of workers and the unemployed even though he lacked the brains and character to accomplish much. Alas, his sabre was bent, while Rauner wields a sturdy stiletto to carve away desperately needed peoples' resources that, used properly, saves many times its cost down the road while improving lives.
  
Blago comes to mind after a grainy picture of him, white haired and chastened in a federal prison, was published yesterday. What an utter waste of $40,000 per year. Blago got 14 years for being a bit crazy, and taunting the Illinois power structure, which for them is literally a federal offence. Meanwhile, the wealthiest Illinoisans are high fiving themselves, celebrating the tax breaks they're enjoying on the backs of folks they don't see, don't hear, don't give a damn about. Between crazy and heartless, I'll take crazy every time.

Make Cotton first impeached senator since 1799

Tom Cotton of Arkansas has only been senator for 2 years but he needs to be impeached.

He's taken $1 million in campaign contributions from the Israel Lobby to sabotage the 5 power negotiations with Iran to avoid war. Many legislators take the money and run, not delivering on implied promises. Cotton is so loyal he drafted a letter to the Iranian mullahs advising them against any deal with President Obama because it could be rescinded in a heartbeat if a Republican becomes president in 21 months. Most responsible folks in government and the media consider this wildly outrageous, dangerous, even treasonous. It's virtually unprecedented in American history. But Cotton has gone much further, actively promoting unilateral war on Iran, claiming it would be a cakewalk, taking four days at most.

 

It's not easy to impeach a senator.  First, articles of impeachment must be charged, and a recommendation to impeach passed through the House judiciary committee. The full House then votes, and if passed, the Senate holds a trial presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. If a majority of senators vote for conviction, the Senator is removed from office. Alas, if a Cotton impeachment got to a Senate trial, he has 46 senators in his pocket on way to 51 votes and acquittal. These are the cruelly cynical senators who signed Cotton's despicable letter to Iran. Many of them are nearly as vehement as Cotton about launching pre-emptive war on Iran.

 

No senator has been impeached since William Blount of Tennessee in 1799. Blount unsuccessfully conspired with Britain to allow their retaking parts of Louisiana and Florida. Cotton's transgressions, undermining American foreign policy and the best chance for peace with Iran; and actively promoting another Middle East war, are significantly worse. They make him truly deserving of the ignominious dishonor of impeachment.  If not impeached, let's hope Cotton is as unsuccessful in his treachery as Bill Blount.   

Short take on Chicago mayoral election

Jesus saves....just not in Chicago.

Why is Netanyahu pallin' around with al Qaeda and the Islamic State

Check out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new best buddies and you'll find al Qaeda and the Islamic State. That's because the enemies of his enemies are his friends, and both are playing that role in Netanyahu's relentless plan to destroy his real enemy, Iran. He said as much in his March 3 speech before Congress with the line "So when it comes to Iran and ISIS, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy.” In other words, 'Fagettabout ISIS and protect Israel from our (and your) real enemy, Iran.' The pro Israel Congressmen roared approval, in part because they really put the foreign policy of Israel above that of the country that signs their paycheck, but mainly because Israel gives them an even bigger paycheck, in the form of campaign contributions. How big? Newbie, nobody Arkansas GOP Senator Tom Cotton received over a million smackers from the Israel Lobby and immediately proceeded to smack down every precept of US foreign policy by authoring a traitorous letter to the Iran mullahs urging them not to negotiate with President Obama over their nuclear program. One of the Senate's most virulent proponents of war to further Israel's foreign policy, Lindsay Graham (R-SC), saw his Israel Lobby campaign dough triple between his 2008 and 2014 re-elections, while my patriotic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who promotes peace instead of war, saw his donations from the Lobby drop by two thirds during the same election cycle. Meanwhile Durbin's Illinois partner in the Senate, Mark Kirk, vacuumed up $1.6 million from the Lobby between 2002 and 2010. Calling President Obama's Iran deal worse than Neville Chamberlin's 1938 Munich agreement with Hitler, is sure to push Kirk's 2016 campaign coffers from the Lobby to new heights.

I may be old but I seek peace for my kids and grandkids, as well as my remaining time here. I cannot fathom why elected officials put crazed ideology and megabucks over attaining peace in our time. We should all ask: Why is Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pallin' around with al Qaeda and the Islamic State?