Rod, Rod, Rod is about to appoint a US Senator. His appointment is Roland Burris a well-respected elder Illinois politician. He was not someone directly named in the US Attorney complaint filed against the Governor. So will Burris be seated? The US senate has said they will not seat ANY ONE who was appointed by Rod Blagojevich so we will see if they keep their promise. I doubt it. They will seat Burris and it will be shameful. This whole "circus" (as former Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka stated on WGN TV this afternoon) is nothing but an embarrassment to the whole state of Illinois. I can only suspect Burris is so enchanted with being a US Senator that he doesn't care or is willing to walk into this clusterfuck. Oh how crappy Illinois is. What needed to happen was the State Legislator needed to get off their asses and actually stop this whole thing by initiating a special election to fill the senate seat. But the Democratically controlled body is too afraid of having a Republican win the seat. This cowardice is costing Illinois every last shred of dignity we might have left in the eyes of the nation. Someone help!
I've talked about this before but Illinois needs a change. The very culture here is toxic and produces corruption and fraud. In a commentary on CNN.com Kent Redfield, director of the Sunshine Project talks about Illinois' problems and what needs to change. He correctly states that we the people of Illinois have no one to blame but ourselves. We reelected Blagojevich to a second term when we all knew he was corrupt. We allow our political elite to use their office for personal gain and not the betterment of the society and the citizenry who put them there. We can stand for this no more. Ideally I would like to see new parties formed but at the very least we need to clean up the ones we have. Ethics need to take a front seat and push party affiliation out the back door. In much of the state, office holders are virtually anointed because those places only vote for one party. This needs to change--we need a renewed fight for all our offices and good competition. This will foster a rebirth of the political scene and hopefully the dawning of a new, better Illinois. We're all sick of it, now it's time for us to do something about it.
Wanna know what car gets better gas mileage in a ten lap race--a Toyota Prius or a BMW M3? Then watch TOP GEAR! on the BBC. Since I'm in America I watch BBC America and boy o boy is Top Gear my favourite show. New episodes started this week. By the way, in that race the BMW got way better mileage; don't believe me, well, watch the show. Top Gear and it's witty hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May take you on an entertaining and sometimes knowledge-filled journey through the car world. My wife who is no car fanatic actually likes the show. I've learned more from this show than I do from motorweek and actually laugh and get entertained the whole time. Do yourself a favour and watch Top Gear. They are bringing an American version to NBC sometime but I don't think it can live up to the BBC original. Who knows maybe Adam Carolla and his cronies can surprise me. Back to the Prius, I heard this before but there is a study that shows a Prius isn't actually more environmentally friendly than a Hummer when you take into account all the energy and pollution emitted during production. That doesn't mean it won't save you some money at the pump when/if gas prices go back up. But as Jeremy says in the show it's more about how you drive than what you drive. If you're like me and heavy on the pedal you won't get good mileage. Go watch Top Gear.