Governor Helmet-Hair---Convicted

The news from my neck of the woods.

Ex-Governor Blagojevic has been convicted of his crimes, and sentence was passed yesterday. He will get 14 years in the Federal Pen for his crimes, which include amongst other things trying to sell a Senate seat (the one held by then-Senator/ Now President Obama), and while the following isn't a crime in and of itself it should be-- the remarkable stupidity of speaking when he himself knew there were likely to be bugs all over the place. He had told others to be careful what they said-- then he blabbed like crazy about the whole thing.

Now, the rest of us here in Illinois have to figure out what's next. Illinois stands as quite possibly one of the most corrupt states in the Union, only Louisiana is close and right now it may be a distant second. Both of the major parties are corrupt, so changing from Republican to Democrat or vice-versa changes nothing except the name of the office holder and the letter (D or R) after his name. The People of Illinois need to run all of these goofs out of town and start over, but that doesn't look likely until the Feds arrest everybody now in office and force the issue.

http://www.suntimes.com/9310880-417/well-crafted-apology-doesnt-save-blagojevich-from-stiff-sentence.html?print=true

Originally posted by mjmsprt40:

Ex-Governor Blagojevic has been convicted of his crimes, and sentence was passed yesterday.

Took them long enough

Originally posted by mjmsprt40:

He will get 14 years in the Federal Pen for his crimes, which include amongst other things trying to sell a Senate seat (the one held by then-Senator/ Now President Obama), and while the following isn't a crime in and of itself it should be-- the remarkable stupidity of speaking when he himself knew there were likely to be bugs all over the place. He had told others to be careful what they said-- then he blabbed like crazy about the whole thing.

He probably thought that nothing's going to happen to him one way or the other - not such an unreasonable assumption, unfortunately.

Makes you wonder how someone so obviously and crassly lacking in grey cells can rise to such a position and act like an idiot?

Hope you don't mind too much Jabro but I have to agree with you......

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Makes you wonder how someone so obviously and crassly lacking in grey cells can rise to such a position and act like an idiot?

Hope you don't mind too much Jabro but I have to agree with you......

Blagojevic deserved what he got.

I seen a little bit about that yesterday. What is going on with all the corruption? Understand that Illinois is quite boring mainly because it's winter 8 months out of the year (mostly northern) but couldn't they find something more constructive to do? Like build igloos?

Originally posted by mandi26:

I seen a little bit about that yesterday. What is going on with all the corruption? Understand that Illinois is quite boring mainly because it's winter 8 months out of the year (mostly northern) but couldn't they find something more constructive to do? Like build igloos?

You're going to have to study our weather a wee bit better, I'm thinking. Winter 8 months out of the year? Really? Igloos? Not in my backyard, an igloo would melt before you could get started most of the year. Maybe if you build out of fiberglass, then your igloo would stand up, but otherwise if you build out of snow then you'll just have to wait a bit. Maybe later in December, but nobody's making any promises. January and February are the only months I could say "for sure" you'd get snow enough to build, and even then I wouldn't plan on long-term housekeeping.

I'm in Northern Illinois, just so's you know. About forty miles South of the Cheddar Curtain (the Illinois/Wisconsin state line, for you out-of-towners) and thirty miles or so West of Chicago. Hmmm, maybe not quite so far West now that I think of it, O'Hare sticks out pretty far to the West and I'm only ten miles or so West of that... so maybe only ten to fifteen miles, depending on where in the city you measure from.

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Makes you wonder how someone so obviously and crassly lacking in grey cells can rise to such a position and act like an idiot?

Hope you don't mind too much Jabro but I have to agree with you......

He's a politician...it's an American tradition.

You agree? I'm stunned!

Oh believe me, I know the weather up there. I used to live in Wisconsin, thanks. I was being sarcastic by the way.

Im just saying that there is more to life than committing crimes. A life spent in jail is no life at all. These politicians that commit crimes are idiots. Wasn't really worth it after all was it? Duh!

So, unanimity relating crime and punishment...
I remember seeing something about someone that was trying to sell the access to senator or something alike and now I see that he gets fourteen years of prison. I don't know the details of the conviction, but fourteen years it's a lot of time.
That's what people gets here for murder considering that, with a good behavior in prison they will be free sooner than the maximum penalty time of twenty five years.
It seems to me too much for such a thing as selling a senator seat.

Originally posted by Belfrager:

So, unanimity relating crime and punishment...
I remember seeing something about someone that was trying to sell the access to senator or something alike and now I see that he gets fourteen years of prison. I don't know the details of the conviction, but fourteen years it's a lot of time.
That's what people gets here for murder considering that, with a good behavior in prison they will be free sooner than the maximum penalty time of twenty five years.
It seems to me too much for such a thing as selling a senator seat.

If it was only selling a senator's seat he might have got off very light. The problem was that this was only the tip of the iceberg. He was corrupt from the word "Go", and the feds had the tapes to prove it.

You'd think he would have known better, he followed a governor (George Ryan) who got in trouble for corruption. Ryan's troubles date back to when he was Secretary of State, and bribery seemed to be rampant under his watch.

Originally posted by Belfrager:

fourteen years it's a lot of time [:] That's what people gets here for murder […]

They encourage murder there?

Originally posted by mjmsprt40:

He will get 14 years in the Federal Pen for his crimes, which include amongst other things trying to sell a Senate seat (the one held by then-Senator/ Now President Obama)

Right. /immediately heads to the strip and sets up a booth for people to place wagers on long his actually serve....

Originally posted by OakdaleFTL:

Originally posted by Belfrager:

fourteen years it's a lot of time [:] That's what people gets here for murder […]

They encourage murder there?

Intentional homicide rates per 100,000 population by region (2010)
North America - 4,7
Europe -3,5
That will be what? about fifty percent bigger homicide rate with your "non encouraging" policy?

But you have to remember you are slightly more civilised. The American system is very vengeful and probably does jail more than most countries? Also high in the execution stakes. Don't firget the way they shackle people like some Third World banana republic?