Land of Lincoln (aka read more Orwell)

I remember years ago my brother Tommy pointed out to me how developers often take a beautiful site, chop it down, dribble concrete over it, add a few saplings, turn it into a shopping mall or a subdivision and then name it after what Once Was There. Caribou Crossing, Deer Path, Lush Meadows, Apple Tree Orchards, Fertile Farmland, etc. In fact way back in the early 20th century when Frank Lloyd Wright was designing houses in Oak Park he coined his style "Prairie,"even though the prairie was far from Oak Park and almost completely gone already. I think George Orwell captured this phenomenon perfectly with Doublespeak and Newspeak. Who could not think of 1984 when our arch enemy seamlessly switched from Iran to Iraq, or when we ended up with The Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security (seriously, someone from the TSA threw away Liam's teething toy on a flight to Arizona, even though I had printed out the page OFF THEIR WEBSITE that specifically said the teething toy I brought was "approved." He couldn't actually come up with any explanation of why he had to throw it away, or why their website said he didn't. Let's not even get me started with them throwing away his mini bottle of Vitamin Water but not his mini bottle of Apple Juice.)

Anyway, I live in the Land of Lincoln. This doesn't refer to the U. S. President who was actually born here (Reagan) but the one who lived and worked here for many years and went on to become one of our greatest presidents. Lincoln had flaws, he definitely did. But what he did for our country was so exceptionally awesome we can try to forgive those flaws and revere him for keeping the country together and abolishing slavery. Those are pretty huge accomplishments. So I think our state motto is a fine one. But for some reason I'd always thought that while Chicago had it's sordid pay to play ways (somehow slightly romantic, in a Godfather-view-of-the-Mafia way, and I did like getting Kennedy out of it if that's indeed how it happened) somehow Illinois was above that. Boy was I wrong. What is WITH this place?!?!

This Roland Burris thing is really the last straw. I distinctly remember watching him say he would offer himself as an unscathed choice for our state, to be a voice for us in the Senate while we sorted out the whole Governor debacle. I distinctly remember him saying he would not seek a second term, and that he was done with politics but he just saw that his state needed him and so he was going to be here if we wanted him. I thought, well that's a stand-up guy, that Roland Burris. What a man, coming out of retirement like that, taking one for the team. As soon as I heard him say, after he'd been appointed, that he was considering running again in 2010 I knew something was up. The news barely even commented on it, even though they KNEW he said the exact opposite a few weeks earlier. One commentator said something like, "well he has to say that to be able to get anything done and be taken seriously," and I wanted to buy that but I couldn't. I think I'm with the Trib and the Post in wanting him to resign, which of course he won't, but I don't know what we'd do then. Have a special election we can't afford? Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post article, "Under Fire, Burris Refuses to Resign Senate Seat" by Peter Slevin, dated February 18, 2009, :
In a sworn affidavit dated Jan. 5, Burris said that before late December, "there was not any contact between myself or any of my representatives with Governor Blagojevich or any of his representatives" about the seat.

On Jan. 7, Reid said Burris seemed "candid and forthright." He noted that Burris would testify the next day to a state House impeachment committee and said the answers would be "very important."

Burris was asked under oath on Jan. 8 by state Rep. Jim Durkin (R) whether he had spoken about the Senate seat with anyone "closely related to the governor, including family members or lobbyists connected with him." Durkin named six individuals.

After conferring with his attorney, Burris said he had spoken with "some friends." Asked again, he named only Lon Monk, a former Blagojevich chief of staff.

That was the end of it until the Chicago Sun-Times revealed a new Burris affidavit on Saturday, signed and dated Feb. 4, that revealed conversations with five Blagojevich advisers, all of whom had been named in Durkin's question.

The affidavit disclosed three talks with Robert Blagojevich. Burris said he told the governor's brother that he could not contribute to a future Blagojevich campaign because it could be seen as an attempt to "curry favor."

At a Sunday news conference, Burris said for the first time that Robert Blagojevich had asked him in October to raise money for the governor. He said he replied that he could not do so "because I was raising money for other candidates, and to call me back after the election."

On Monday, however, Burris told reporters that he had "called some people about trying to see if we could put a fundraiser together . . . They said, 'We aren't giving money to the governor.' " When Robert Blagojevich called in November, Burris said, he told him of his efforts and suggested that they consider going to others.

By the time Blagojevich called a third time, Burris said, he had decided that it would be wrong to raise money or contribute money.

"I mean," Burris told reporters, "that should give some indication of my commitment right there to get out of pay-to-play."

Oh puh-lease (that's my comment.) :o)