Reality TV Blago Style

Rarely have I been more entertained by the news recently, than when Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich holds a press conference. It truly is exciting!

Shortly after the Illinois House chose to move forward with Impeachment proceedings against him, he appeared before me on my television screen. He surely had quite a bit to say too! It was quite obvious that he dislikes the Illinois House of Representatives, and is certain that they have grouped together in this big conspiracy against him. Maybe he suffers from delusions, grand delusions, who knows, anything is possible, but the man is fun to watch and listen to! I wouldn't want him as a Governor, or a best friend, but I like him for topic materials and heck, I would have dinner with him - pass up a chance to pick the mind of that man - not in a million years!

So out walks this group of people no one knows and they stand off to the side of the side of the stage. They were never formerly introduced, so I'm still not sure who they were, maybe they were some of the people who Blago referenced that he helped in his long speech about conspiracy against him and how he has done nothing but help the people of Illinois, while the rest of the legislature has stuck it to the people of Illinois.

He finally came out, all silly smiling, as usual, because you know he has absolutely nothing to worry about - he is innocent and he can prove it! (The one thing we definitely have to give him in all this mess is that he is correct on that aspect - in this Country we are all entitled to be innocent until proven guilty, and he really isn't getting that treatment, is he?) He does make it complicated, however, to offer no judgment of any kind, but I am not judging him - just offering up an opinion on his latest reality TV appearance.

He stated:

"The House's action was not a surprise it was a foregone conclusion."

"This is not something that came a complete surprise to me."

"This is part of the dynamic of Illinois."

"I've worked very hard with the House." (and went on to claim that they've stuck it to him at just about every turn and have done all they could to try and get him out of the Governor's seat for quite some time now.)

"The House has stood in the way.." He claims they have barred the way for almost all of the projects or programs he has attempted to propose or start that would do nothing but benefit the people of Illinois because he was:

"taught to believe in Sunday school do unto to others as you would have done unto you."

Some of these programs or projects are people, like this young man he spoke about helping:

A young person who did not qualify for the All Kids Program because was 19. He had a rare kidney disease and needed surgery. He was only 19 and had no health insurance which made him ineligible for All Kids . Blago says "We found away, he got the surgery – is that an impeachable offense – the kid lived because of me taking action."

I guess a question here that I would naturally ask the ask the Governor would be did you talk to someone at Childrens Memorial Hospital in Chicago? That wonderful hospital which will reach out to the uninsured and terribly sick? That hospital which you allegedly were willing to withhold funds from for your own personal gain? But that's just me having an opinion and asking.

I think it is wonderful that Blago helped this young boy who was in need, truly wonderful. We need to make sure all of the children who are in need like this are helped, even more all people who need to be medically treated have access to that treatment. God bless you Governor for what you did for this young man, and for the woman who lived in Humboldt Park that you spoke of who could not afford a mammogram. If it were not for your Pink Potluck Program she never would have found out she had breast cancer. God Bless you for your efforts in helping those in need.

The Governor asked if these were impeachable acts? No Sir, they are not impeachable acts, but they are not the reasons you are in trouble either, are they? Really, c'mon, you can't seriously expect people to think that the entire State Legislature is out to pick on little ole you just because you wanted to help some sick people. That is equal to saying every other politician besides Rod Blagojevich hates the people of Illinois - which by the way Governor Blagojevich is beyond ridiculous!

Blago then went on to say:

"I am not guilty of any criminal wrong doing! I am confident at the end of the day I will be exonerated – they[the people of Illinois] hired me to fight for them and that is what I will do!"

This one goes to the Governor, after all the people did elect the man twice! But has he noticed his approval rating? Does he read his email? What are the people saying now? On the other hand, why hasn't the Prosecutor taken this to a Grand Jury for indictment? Why the extension? What's the hold-up? Innocent until proven guilty, yet again.

He ended his reality television moment with a poem, he said Ted Kennedy quoted it and it inspires him. This poem reminds him of the situation he's in and that he should be fighting for families; reminds him of his immigrant father who sacrificed, his working mom who worked for the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority). The poem talks about sacrifice, and he says "there hasn't been a day gone by that I haven’t thought about my parents and their sacrifices."

He was quoting the last four lines of Ulysses. What is more interesting than the last 4 lines of what he quotes, is the opening of this poem! It is eerily befitting in an odd way. I wonder if he knew about this before he quoted it? Here is Ulysses in it's entirety.

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel:
I will drink Life to the lees:
All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly,
both with those That loved me, and alone, on shore,and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea:
I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads - you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'


What Blago quoted:

"We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Alfred Lord Tennyson

I say we give Blago his own channel! He is just too much fun to watch and listen too, and you just never know what goodies are going to come from him next! If not his own channel, at least put him on once a day for about 30 minutes - just for the fun of it.

Humpty Dumpty and all that..