From Obama to Blagojevich

This is a Chicago Tribune photo.

We watched the Illinois State Senate remove Rod Blagojevich from office today. Suddenly, he is no longer our governor. That's pretty historic! It amazes me how this piece of news is everywhere, not just in the U.S. but in other countries. The State has already removed all of the governor's security protection and changed the locks to his office. They're even already changing all the signs where his name is posted on the tollway. Wow! Do you suppose they might really not like him? They've even banned him from holding any other public office in this state.

My husband, Art said isn't it interesting that we were here to watch LIVE, Illinois' favorite son (not to mention Hawaii's) become President and now we've watched Mr. Blagojevich get impeached out of the governor's office. And no, I did not vote for him. Cross my heart.

It's pretty incredible! The link in all this of course, is that Rod was planning to sell President Obama's vacant senate seat and was caught on wire taps.

Now Illinois has become famous for corruption and pay for play politics. All this is not exactly super surprising because Chicago politics is already known for the corrupt "machine politics" of the first Daley. Richard Daley, the son has carried on his father's legacy and yet things seem to get done so people vote him in anyway.

I do think it's a pretty interesting time in politics. I don't follow or understand it as well as my husband but I'm certainly aware of its significance at this time.

On a more positive note, I had my lunch (3 hours) with my two friends today at Bravo! restaurant at The Glen (shopping mall) in Glenview, Illinois. Bravo! is a very beautiful place with reasonable prices. We had such a terrific time catching up with each other's lives. It's pretty incredible how much can happen in 6 months.

Tomorrow, we'll have to set up for our neighborhood party. I'm trying to calculate how many pizzas we'll need. We bought a 6 feet folding table at Costco that folds in half for storage. Very nifty for setting up a buffet table! We'll pick up a party veggie platter at Costco tomorrow and maybe a few drinks. It's a pot luck so neighbors will be bringing more drinks, desserts, salads and appetizers. This will be so much fun! Heeey! This will be like one of our Hawaii pot lucks! Yahoo!

A Dose of Reality

Somebody just sent me a Forwarded e-mail that said:


Attached is a little dose of reality.

That moment just before the pain begins...

Then came a series of graphic photographs of the painful moments just before "the pain set in." There's photos of a man being gored by a bull, a man on a motorcycle as the tire is coming loose, a cyclist's arm being run over by a car, ETC. The last photo is of Barack Obama giving a speech in front of the Capitol building.

This was my reply to this person who I love very much and respect despite our differing opinions.

Juuust a little information for you. :-)
We happen to be Independent/Democrats. We think Obama is the only solution to get us out of this mess right now. He may not be able to do it but at least he'll try. With the Republicans in power we have gone from the biggest surplus in history to the biggest deficit. We've got a war that was brought on with deliberate misinformation. We've got inflation. We've got a huge breach in our constitution. Obama might not be able to fix all this because what's been done is too awful. When we've traveled around the world and talked to people, we have been surprised to find that they are more often better informed than Americans are about our political system. They cannot understand WHY Americans would support Bush and his policies.

We're in pain now.
Sigh.
Anyway, that's how we feel in this household.
But we respect the right for you to believe as you do.
Love,
Kay

To all that, I'd like to add that I love the way Obama goes to top intellectuals for perspectives and knowledge before making a crucial decision. He has a brilliant mind and he doesn't go half cocked into making an important decision.

Forgive me. I didn't want to do a political blog but I do have strong feelings on this. And as I said before, I respect everyone for their own feelings and beliefs. This is mine.