On the way out of the office, reported on the elevator info monitor, was a news report on Rod Blagojevich and how he was accused of running “state government as a criminal enterprise.”

Isn’t that like saying water is wet?

Then again… it really is a cheapshot at real criminal enterprises. Those guys are at least honest with regard to their role. They know and admit they are thieves, extorting people and damaging property. The bureaucrats… not so much.

http://www.breitbart.com/…

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/…

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiring to get financial benefits through his authority to appoint a U.S. senator to fill the vacancy left by Barack Obama’s election as president.According to a federal criminal complaint, Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field. In return for state assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper’s editorial board who had been critical of him fired.

A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

The affidavit said Blagojevich discussed getting a substantial salary for himself at a nonprofit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions.

It said that Blagojevich also talked about getting his wife placed on corporate boards where she might get $150,000 a year in director’s fees.

He also allegedly discussed getting campaign funds for himself or possibly a post in the president’s cabinet or an ambassadorship once he left the governor’s office.

“I want to make money,” the affidavit quotes him as saying in one conversation.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement that “the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering.”

“They allege that Blagojevich put a for sale sign on the naming of a United States senator,” Fitzgerald said.”

Among those being considered for the post include U.S. Reps. Danny Davis and Jesse Jackson Jr.

Blagojevich also was charged with using his authority as governor in an attempt to squeeze out campaign contributions.

His chief of staff, John Harris, also was arrested.

One down. 49 to go.

I wonder who he crossed.  Was it just Obama and friends? Perhaps he was just seen as too aggressive. If you’re going to be a crooked politician (did I repeat myself?) you need to be less… truthful… about your desires and intentions.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/…

Smokers throughout Illinois soon will have to step outside or into a private setting to light up after Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday signed into law a smoking ban that extends to nearly all public places across the state.

The governor’s action, which state health officials said makes Illinois the 19th state with a broad smoking ban, culminated nearly two decades of intense efforts by anti-smoking advocates to curtail smoking in public.
At Jake Moran’s pub in Mundelein, which allows smoking, response to the ban among the 10 or so patrons ranged from the merely angry to the unprintable.

“It’s the General Assembly being our new nanny,” said Wally Degner, 70, of Palatine, a pipe smoker for 50 years. “After this they’ll ban foods that are too fatty. You’ll have to ask the state what you can eat and drink—they’ll start regulating hamburgers.”

The law will prohibit smoking in all public buildings and in most businesses and government vehicles. Smoking will be illegal in bars and restaurants, as well as places ranging from student dormitories to private homes in which businesses open to the public are operated.

“This law will save lives,” the governor said. “The realities are that smoking kills people.”

The realities are that the supporters of this bill are freedom hating, nanny and police state supporting assholes. While secondhand smoke may contain carcinogenic elements, smoking and being around smokers is a completely VOLUNTARY action. These people are not victims. They place themselves in possible harms way. The evidence linking second hand smoke to any significant increase in health problems is amazingly thin (when compared against the media and political coverage given to the topic) and those cases were it’s supposedly the cause of an issue the evidence is hardly indisputable. Bars and restaurants are not publicity owned… they are private businesses open to the public. If you want a smoke free establishment then lobby a place to ban it or start up your own. This bullshit legislating of behavior, while accurately dealt with at the state level vs federally (like drug laws which are unconstitutional), is an infringement on the idea of personal responsibility, freedom of expression and privacy. This is not a topic which the State at any level needs to be concerned with.

http://gamepolitics.com/…

Oh how I love it. State after state have been trying to pass laws to ban selling violent videogames to minors. Each time the courts have struck them down (most if not all states have 1st Amendment like legislation in their constitutions.) In at least this case the judge ordered the state to pay the legal costs of the defendants which brought the total cost to about $1M. Best part this money came directly from the Illinois tax payers.

Accoring to QCO:

The governor raided funds throughout state government to pay for the litigation. Some of the areas money was taken from included the public health department, the state’s welfare agency and even the economic development department.

Glad Rod Blagojevich (D) isn’t my corrupt governor… We here in New Jersey just have to deal with Corzine giving $6M to his union leader ex-girlfriend and nearly dying after his SUV crashed going 91MPH down the NJ Garden State Parkway. I wonder what his hospital bills were and if I helped pay for them directly?