Swamp Sunrise

Thanks for posting the Swamp Sunrise photos. I always enjoy viewing them -- they suspend the helter skelter world and create a serene moment for reflection. I hope to see them throughout 2009 too. Best wishes for the Season.

Today's news story the Swamp won't mention: Blago's lawyers have asked the IL House Impeachment panel to subpoena Obama's top aides to testify. See http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16864.html

We can't wait to get these Obamacrats under oath.

Think about it "Change." If Blago's lawyers believe they are helpful to Blago's defense, it would suggest that they have no knowledge of any wrongdoing, as they would have to state under oath; which is what reasonable people believe anyway. Oh, and it's only 2 aides, not the whole crew.

Todays news story that the Wingnuts on here (see above) want to push aside so they can blather on about some mythical connection between Blago and Obama:

Only one day after Bush granted 19 pardons and one commutation, White House officials were re-examining the case of Isaac R. Toussie.

Toussie was convicted of housing fraud and sued by 200 families for the very predatory lending practices which helped spark the housing crisis.
http://xml.newsday.com/topic/ny-toussie0711,0,3346587.story

From Dana Perino:
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"Based on information that has subsequently come to light, the president has directed the [Justice Department's] pardon attorney not to execute and deliver a grant of clemency to Mr. Toussie," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a written statement.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/24/bush.pardon.reexamined/index.html

How is this information only now "coming to light?"'

Anybody with an Internet connection could have done the Google to learn about the guy and his shady history of scamming poor families. They also could have easily discovered Toussie's father is a big GOP donor:

In 2008, Toussie's father donated almost $40,000 to Arizona Sen. John McCain, Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, and Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor.

Again, anyone with an Internet connection can look up contributions.

So, the question is --- how did Isaac Toussie end up on the pardon list? Who at the Justice Department made the recommendation? And why was it granted if Bush was so utterly clueless about the facts of the case?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gNbZJtwBki4XVeyI-6zGGYgDJZBAD959BR000

Posted by: Change We Do Believe In | December 26, 2008 3:07 PM
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Obama once worked as a senior advisor to Blagojevich, and enthusiastically endorsed him as late as 2006 (when Blagojevich was already under a cloud of suspicion).
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Although it's unlikely that Obama was dealing with Blagojevich to sell his senate seat, it's flat out wrong to say they have no connection to each other. Anybody with an internet connection can verify this, John E.

Although it's unlikely that Obama was dealing with Blagojevich to sell his senate seat, it's flat out wrong to say they have no connection to each other. Anybody with an internet connection can verify this
Posted by: MJ | December 26, 2008 4:46 PM

Congratulations smart guy, you just verified what Change was trying to say in the first place.

"Congratulations smart guy, you just verified what Change was trying to say in the first place."
Posted by: Ol' Saint Nick | December 26, 2008 5:07 PM
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As a matter of fact, no I didn't. The connection between Blagojevich and Obama isn't "mythical" at all. It's quite real.
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I happen to believe (and it's only an opinion) that Obama probably was not dealing for his senate seat simply because he's not that dumb.
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However, Obama and Blagojevich go way back -- being quite close, not just having had the casual working relationship of a governor to a state senator.
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You can call this connection "mythical" as much as you want to, John E, but you can't change the truth.

Come on, MJ. To say that Obama was ever a senior advisor to the governor is a ridiculous stretch. He supported the Democratic candidate, as anyone would, and so what? And when did a "connection" become necessarily bad. This is the same innuendo as the Ayers story, it goes beyond skepticism and is below you, MJ. Or maybe I gave you too much credit.

...and by the way. Although I'm confident that Obama was not personally dealing with Blagojevich, I don't have the same confidence about Emanuel. It's interesting to note that there have been no transcripts released of their phone conversations. And RE remains unchracteriscally incommunicado.

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Posted by: MJ | December 26, 2008 5:32 PM
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Just because Jake Tapper says so doesn't make it true. Obama worked to help elect Blago only AFTER he had supported Roland Burris who lost to Blago in the primary. He did it to help the Democratic party, period, end of story.

"We can tell from the criminal complaint that Blagojevich was not fond of Obama -- a couple of "bleepers" removed all doubt -- and the Washington Post noted that Blagojevich "considered Obama naive and pretentious and dismissed his success as 'good luck.'" For his part, Obama never had any use for Blagojevich, and disparaged his "combativeness" and "disorganization." The two began their careers in Chicago, but "Blagojevich and Obama operated on distinct tracks."

"Even when Blagojevich first ran for governor, Obama urged others to challenge him, and ended up supporting one of Blagojevich's primary rivals. Two years later, Blagojevich never endorsed Obama's U.S. Senate campaign, and the two didn't campaign together."

"Abner Mikva, a former congressman and appeals court judge, said, "Obama saw this coming, and he was very cautious about not having dealings with the governor for quite some time. The governor was perhaps the only American public officeholder who didn't speak at the convention, and that wasn't by accident. He's politically poisonous. You don't get through Chicago like Barack Obama did unless you know how to avoid people like that."
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http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_12/016031.php
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flo, it's a fact that both Obama and Emanuel served as senior campaign advisors to Blagojevich. It's not a stretch at all. It's a fact.
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And sorry but Obama endorsing a guy who was widely suspected of corruption as Blagojevich was in 2006 (it was all over the news) for the good of the party may be understandable, but it doesn't give much credence to Obama's claim to a new way of practicing politics, does it?
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I doubt if anything will come out of the senate-seat-for-sale thing that wil hurt Obama. But given how the Obama people are obfuscating -- how Emanuel is avoiding the press for the first time in his life; how Team Obama's Report Exonerating Team Obama lacks any transcripts of conversations -- it seems obvious that there is something damning that they're trying to hide.

Obama's Report Exonerating Team Obama lacks any transcripts of conversations -- it seems obvious that there is something damning that they're trying to hide.

Posted by: MJ | December 26, 2008 6:31 PM

Now you're just embarrassing yourself with Blago-Obama innuendo.

how Team Obama's Report Exonerating Team Obama lacks any transcripts of conversations -- it seems obvious that there is something damning that they're trying to hide.

Posted by: MJ | December 26, 2008 6:31 PM

This sounds like a mythical connection to me and anyone with an interent connection can verify that.

What's the matter MJ, did Santa fill your stocking with coal?

"Obama's Report Exonerating Team Obama lacks any transcripts of conversations -- it seems obvious that there is something damning that they're trying to hide."

MJ, can you prove a negative? Do you have transcripts of your phone calls?? Why would Rahm or anyone else have transcrrpts of their phone calls? Do you tape your phone calls? Patrick Fitzgerald has transcripts of Blago's calls because they are taping them. But nobody else has access to them.

People (and in the spirit of the season, I'm generously including you in that salutation, John E):
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Where there's smoke there's usually fire. Or when talking about politics, I suppose the metaphor should be: where there's stink, there's usually ****.
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When politicians obfuscate, when they avoid the press when heretofore they always sought them out; that raises a red flag.
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One might ask, shouldn't they be granted the benefit of a doubt? No. Not given their chosen profession.
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And with this particular soon-to-be administration, the principal players have been active participants in Chicago's filthy politics so they have not earned any benefit of a doubt. Both Obama and Jarrett have funnelled millions of tax dollars to Tony Rezko for his barely habitable slum properties. Emanuel has had armies of Chicago city employees doing campaign work for him during work hours, while the taxpayers were footing the bill. Their resumes offer no reason for us to hope for reform. None.
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Furthermore, we owe it to ourselves and to the nation to hold any and every politician's feet to the fire; to doubt before we accept their every word; to be wolves rather than sheep.

MJ, you've lost it. 'I declare you guilty and you must prove you're not.' Regardless of what you say, we don't have to assume everyone who ever knew Blago or ever was involved in Chicago politics is corrupt.

As state senator in 1998, Obama wrote two letters supporting a Rezko/Davis senior housing project in his own district.

This is what politicians do, not just in Chicago, but everywhere.

The "armies" of Chicago city employees were under the direction of Mayor Daley, not Rahm Emmanuel.

Pretty much every poster other than MJ sees through his own failed logic.

Flo, you don't have to assume anything about Obama's, Emanuel's and Jarret's careers in Chicago. The public record speaks for itself.
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Here's an excellent primer from the Boston Globe, published last June:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/27/grim_proving_ground_for_obamas_housing_policy/
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There are other such reports to be found in the mainstream media. Do some homework.
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Then after you've done some homework you'll understand why I don't blithely accept it when Team Obama says, "hey we checked ourselves and found nothing wrong."

And with this particular soon-to-be administration, the principal players have been active participants in Chicago's filthy politics so they have not earned any benefit of a doubt
Posted by: MJ | December 27, 2008 10:59 AM

If you're a Republican corporate media operative or just a regular Republican troll (MJ) and you want to see the Obama administration fail, don't say while you think that Obama had nothing to do with Blago's corruption, that you think it's "unfortunate" that Obama will be tainted nonetheless.

First of all, you're wrong. Obama won't be tainted. People have seen your stupid GOP tricks before, and they won't fall for them again. While you were busy talking about how "unfortunate" it is that the Blago mess drags on and on, President-elect Obama was busy dealing with the nation's real problems -- and racking up an 82% approval rating for having done so.

While you were disengenously prattling forth about transparency in the wake of the most secretive administration in American history, Barack Obama was putting all the cards on the table, holding nothing back.

While you were dreaming of another Whitewater, Obama was becoming the most admired man in America. (And by the way, Hillary Clinton -- not Sarah Palin -- is the most admired woman in America.)

And most importantly of all, while you were busy doing everything possible to avoid discussing the fundamental economic challenges that we face, Barack Obama and his administration were busy working on a plan to start the recovery from the Bush Recession.

If you learned one thing from the last election -- and you apparently haven't -- it's that people are sick and tired of the typical partisan Republican games and distractions, especially when we're facing such enormous problems.

This is a big moment in our nation's history. You have an opportunity to do the right thing and get on board and help us fix the disaster that eight years of highly ideological conservative governance have brought to the United States of America.

Or you can cement your irrelevancy by standing on the sidelines and throwing partisan potshots and imagining fires where there isn't even any smoke.

It's your choice, MJ. Choose wisely.

Forget it, MJ; I've read plenty for years and I also know that the election is over, it's time to move forward to inauguration day; I care nothing about Chicago corruption unless Fitzgerald has evidence of something and chooses to file charges. If you don't like the Obama report, show me something real to disprove it. You need to review some of your posts, Mr. Presumed Guilty. Guilt by association was a nice election trick that didn't work. By the way, MJ, you're starting to sound like Jeff....which is not a compliment.

Posted by: Ivan Drasko | December 27, 2008 3:47 PM
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That was big effort expended to say nothing. You might do better if you actually read my comments before "responding" to them. Umm... on second thought, no you probably can't do better.
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Posted by: Borat | December 27, 2008 2:42 PM
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So you're saying that Obama is just another unscrupulous pol, and talk of change and a new politics is just so much hot air. Yes I agree, but I already knew that.
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I have to correct you about the patronage workers campaigning for Emanuel while on the job: They were under the command of Water Comissioner Donald Tomczak (now serving time in prison for corruption) not Mayor Daley. I'm curious, do you think that absolves Emanuel?

You guys on here need to stop responding to MJ even if he attempts to bait you. He's an attention addict and the more attention you give him the more important he thinks he is, it's a delusional mindset. He's one of the bigger mouths in a very small Republican minority party right now. No one cares what he thinks and obviously the majority of the voters don't agree with him so just let him blather on.

Ah yes; MJ says we must just assume they are "unscrupulous" because they are from Chicago. No evidence... just say Chicago Machine, or Rezko... who needs evidence? who needs proof? who even needs specifics? A friend of mine is in Chicago for Christmas and I suppose she'll be corrupt when she gets back next week, eh, MJ?

On an earlier post you were called out for your indictment of Emmanuel based on your own supporting evidence that Daley was behind the employee directive. I don't care who made the call to arms, it was not Emmanuel and, yes, it does absolve Emmanuel unless more supporting evidence proves he was aware of the activity or was behind it. Unless you can provide that evidence, your argument is nothing more than a tired guilt by association logical fallacy.

Regarding Obama, framing your own argument by asserting that I somehow agree to your false terms about "change" and "hot air" is, ONCE AGAIN, a logical fallacy.

He supported a senior housing project in his district. And yes, Rezko and others were to be paid for it. And?

Give us something concrete like an Obama indictment for anything he did illegally with Rezko or his companies.

Until then, read up on Logic 101.

MJ,

Wanna get away?

Bubba Borat;
"legal" and "ethical" are not synonyms, and "read up on Logic 101" does not make you more convincing. Sorry.
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All:
Yes, there is such a thing as guilt by association.
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One example would be an accountant who works for the mafia. He doesn't actually kill anybody, but he enables murder and so is culpable.
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A second example would be any politician in the Chicago Democratic Machine. S/he may never be indicted of a crime, but by working within the machine, by the rules, s/he promulgates bad governance and thus s/he is culpable.
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Furthermore, claiming ignorance of how the machine works, when this has been well known and publicized (even internationally notorious) for a century strains credulity to the limit!
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Granted there are many degrees of guilt -- the accountant above is less guilty than the hitman -- but guilt by association is real.
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Honestly people, read up on Logic 101. And grow some thicker skins.
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PS, Borat; So glad you agree with me!

Posted by: helen | December 27, 2008 8:42 PM
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Helen,
You're mistaken, I don't belong to any political party. I happen to find the Democrats to be a HUGE disappointment. They want our support without earning it. That doesn't make me a Republican. (And they haven't done much for me lately either.)
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Also, shouldn't we be responding to each other? You know, the "give and take" thing? Rhetorical sparring? Isn't that what blogs are about? Wouldn't it be pointless and boring if we all agreed?
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And let's not bring up each other's Psychoses, OK? That will be too embarrassing for too many people.

Helen,
You're mistaken, I don't belong to any political party. I happen to find the Democrats to be a HUGE disappointment. They want our support without earning it. That doesn't make me a Republican. (And they haven't done much for me lately either.)
Posted by: MJ | December 27, 2008 11:18 PM

HAHAHA!

This reminds me of when Nixon said "I am not a crook!"

MJ - "I am not a Republican!"

Thanks for the laughs, Mr 'Independent'...you're a riot.

MJ, the "give and take" thing is fine; but all I'm hearing from you is the same generalizations and assumptions over and over. You didn't answer my questions, anyway. You must not know as much about the alleged 'Chicago Machine' as you think. And the boston globe article you link to doesn't say what you claim.
I've moved on to other subjects.

So no supporting evidence of your argument, just a tired retread of failed logic with a dash of red herring. Got it.

All Chicago politicians are inherently guilty until proven innocent. Got it.

Any other baseless blanket accusations you would like to throw out while you're at it?

Posted by: Borat | December 28, 2008 9:42 AM
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Participating in bad governance promulgates bad governance. Why is that so difficult for you to grasp? Are you being intentionally obtuse, or do you come by it honestly? I really can't tell.
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BTW, you forgot to say "read up on Logic 101".

And the boston globe article you link to doesn't say what you claim.
I've moved on to other subjects.

Posted by: Flo | December 28, 2008 9:10 AM

Flo,
Your old friend MJ also goes by the names Juanito and Leo T and too many other post names to count.
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He's easy to recognize when you bear in mind that he likes to do that and you're attuned to his written "voice". He posts the same things all day and using the exact same phraseology, the same grammatical errors and the same lack of organization. Why? I guess, because he thinks people will be fooled into believing there's a groundswell supporting his "thinking".
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An original thought from the many faces of MJ? Forget it.

MJ @ 11:49

You've been called out by every poster on this link to provide anything to back up your claims and this is the response we all get?

Even more generalized nonsense.

Yes, please pick up a book on Logic.

You desperately need it.

Borat,
MJ fancies himself a "smart guy". It seems to be an epidemic now with these GOP guys even though they're losing elections right and left. They'll never admit that they're wrong about anything. MJ is just a microcosm of what's wrong with our politics these days and it's also why I predict that the GOP will be out of power for many years to come.

Yes, please pick up a book on Logic.
You desperately need it.
Posted by: Borat | December 28, 2008 3:48 PM
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I do? I'm not the the one saying that extensively published facts known to the entire world -- that Obama, Emanuel and Jarrett worked in the Chicago Democratic Machine -- are untrue. You are.
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And not even Obama, Emanuel and Jarrett deny that because they're not crazy enough to deny the self evident truth. You are, it seems.
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You need a psychiatrist more than a book on logic... desperately.

Still nothing of substance to back up your claims.

Nothing.

Period.

I's settle for even one tiny little shred of evidence at this point.

Anything.

I'm not the the one saying that extensively published facts known to the entire world -- that Obama, Emanuel and Jarrett worked in the Chicago Democratic Machine -- are untrue. You are.
Posted by: MJ | December 28, 2008 6:07 PM

Really? There's a fact book out that lists all the members of the Chicago political machine and all the crimes that they have been charged with?
Why don't you share this info with the class, Son?

It's very simple, MJ. Obama never worked in the 'machine,' I think you're ODing on Pink Floyd. And by the way, he's not a Muslim either.