"Hot" Rod Blagojevich Not So Hot

On December 23, 2008 our former Governor, Rod Balgojevich was arrested on corruption including the attempt to sell President Obama's old senate seat. According to the Chicago Tribune, the former Governer was elected to end the corruption in Illinois that former Governor George Ryan started, who was convicted of corruption. Of course we know now that Blagojevich will be going to prison for 14 years. It does not sound like that Rod completed his goal. It sounds more like he made it worse.

According to the Huff Post, Blagojevich's trial first began on June 3, 2010. This ended up becoming a very long trial that lasted several months. Several jurors may have known the guilt of Blagojevich, but unless the information presented in court is enough for a guilty verdict, then Blagojevich remains not guilty. In my opinion, it would be a tough job for me, and probably for anyone, to be a juror for this trial. This is because we have been watching our former governor drag our state through hell and corruption through his terrible legacy as governor. That is something that many jurors cannot put behind them to make it a fair trial. Not to mention that throughout the trial, Blagojevich continued to lie and stick with his rediculous lies. The jury, for sure, knew how pathetic the words were coming out of the former governors mouth.

A blog by Natasha Korecki states the quote that Judge Zagel said to Rod Blagojevich. "In the United States, we don't much govern at gunpoint," Zagel said.

"We require willing ... participation. This happens most easily when people trust the person at the top to do the right thing most of the time and more important than that to try to do it most of the time. When a state senator takes a bribe, that's one person out of 59. You are not to be compared with those who hold lesser positions in government. You, as a governor are seen to control all of them, though I concede in practice you don't....When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily or quickly repaired. You did that damage." 

It is certain with all of the problems in our state, that Mr. Hot Rod is just a typical Illinois governor along with George Ryan. When people are at high authority, they carry a great responsibility that is owed to the people. Wanting to be governor, or any leader of any sort, is wanting to make the people around you successful and give a guidance along the way to success. Mr. Blagojevich only destroyed the whole idea of leadership. He took the great responsibility that he owed to the people and used it to only benefit himself and his family. This is simply a sign of selfishness and irresponsibility. This irresponsibility and selfishness only led to his arrest and 14 years in prison.

It doesn't pay to lie, cheat, and steal. In fact it cost the former governor a lot of money and more importantly time. He loses 14 years of his life to spend taking care of his family and being a father to his daughters because he will rot in prison. The moral of Mr. Blagojevich's story is to never challenge the authority of the United States court system. The plea bargaining for a white collar crime like this were probably worth a lot less than 14 years in prison. A more important way to look at this is, what kind of shape would the state of Illinois be in if Blagojevich had never been elected? We will never know as we can't change the past, but people now realize to never fully trust the high power of our Illinois government. In this case, the criminal justice system worked well for our state. Future leaders of our state, and any other business, now know to not use their position benefit their personal life. Instead to fix the damage of our state and make it the prosperous state it should be.

What's going on in Libya and why you, as an American, should care.

What's going on in Libya and why you, as an American, should care.


As you know from the many news stories shown over only a short period of two months, many things in the Middle East and North Africa are changing. What started off as a government protest by an angry street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi has led to one of the most violent Arab world protests in many years. This not only led to two successful uprises in both Tunisia and Egypt but also to the extreme turmoil today in the country of Libya. Many people do not comprehend fully what is going on there, so let me break it down for all of you. Most people also do not realize just how much these protests will affect not only themselves but the economy as well.

Image Courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons

What's going on- The people of Libya have been under the oppressive regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi since 1969 and, quite frankly, they are fed up with it. Under this oppressive regime the people of Libya have suffered many injustices. Even the most basic human rights, freedom of speech and expression are denied there. While these practices are specifically deemed unjust by the United Nations, Gaddaffi simply does not care and most of the world does not seem to care either.

Why it is illegal- This is illegal for the most basic human reasons... it is wrong. Many other countries have not had to live under the oppressiveness that this regime presents and many Libyan people feel that they do not have to live this way either.

Why you should care- As seen in the Al Jazeera English video above you know that the Libyan government has not only opposed these protests but they have also met them with crushing opposition. In the interview, Gaddafi's son said that the Libyan situation is not like the Egyptian situation. Well, he was right, it was much worse. Also, I can only foresee it getting worse until the United States and it's allies can assist this rebellion. This region is one of instability and you, as an American, should want the most allies possible in that region. Libya could soon be one of our allies again if this situation is handled democratically and fairly by all parties.

How it affects you- This affects you as an individual in many ways. One of the most important things to Americans is saving money and one of the things that we tend to consume most of is oil. Libya, being one of the largest members of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and a heavy supplier of oil to Europe, is a key factor in how much you pay at the pump every time you fill up gas. In fact, Gaddafi has said that he will halt shipping of oil until something is done to end the political uprising in the country. While, the Saudi government has promised to pick up the slack left by Libya at this time, it still may not be enough. It has even been confirmed that this summer gas might hit $4.00 a gallon and could even be averaging $5.00 a gallon by next year.

How it affects the United States- As any economists would tell you, oil is in everything you buy. Be it an actual oil product or a normal product that you wouldn't even consider to be oil related. Take an average, often thought to be, non-oil related item - shoes. While shoes are not "made with oil," it is still required in the production of the shoes. For example, everything from what is used to run the machines to the transportation used to bring those shoes to the United states will be more expensive due to the Libyan uprising. But other than a few harsh, but strategically tactful words by the Obama administration, Gaddafi has not actually been challenged too extensively on what he is doing.

How it affects the world- The world has also seen a lot of increased prices and decreased profits because of this. Because of the previously mentioned hike in prices of practically everything the stock prices of these companies have fallen as well. Be it the DOW or the NASDAQ, everything is being hurt by Gaddafi's stubbornness and refusal to step down and treat his people with respect. In fact, the only thing that the United Nations can do at this point, other than the already imposed numerous economic sanctions is establish a no-fly zone over Libya. In other words no airplanes or supplies will be able to flown over Libya at this time. Groundbreaking... No. But it's a start.

Ultimately nothing will change for the Libyan people unless the entire world pulls out the extra effort in order to help them because they will all benefit from it. The sheer necessity of oil that the entire world economy thrives on will benefit from this as well. Ultimately, I would like everyone to understand that it is within everyone's best interests (yes, yours too) to aid the Libyan people in their time of need.

What a Shame: Corrupt Governor Rob Blagojevich

Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois, is, in my opinion, one of the stupidest people on the planet. It really makes me mad when people are corrupt, especially if it’s something so essential in our everyday lives like government. Our tax dollars pay for their salaries, we elect them, and put all our trust in them to run our state, and then they betray us.
Since 2005, the FBI has been investigating him for corruption. He got impeached by the Illinois General Assembly in January of 2009 as a result of his corruption. He and his chief of staff John Harris were charged by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Investigation continued, and he was found guilty in April of 2009. He was only found guilty of one charge out of his 24 charges, which he made false statements during his trial (lied to the government). Some of those charges were mail fraud, wire fraud, and soliciting bribes.

Not just that, but Blagojevich said the most shocking thing: “The government threw everything but the kitchen sink at me … I did not lie to the FBI. I told the truth from the very beginning.” How could he say such a thing? We know, with unreasonable doubt that he did lie, and he still says that he didn’t? The government had tapes of him talking about selling Obama’s seat in the senate, and tons of evidence besides that. When is he just going to give up and tell the truth? Lying is a sin, and everybody knows very well that he’s going to hell.

Then he said something so insane and racist toward Obama, that I just couldn’t stand reading it. He said: “I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.” He just insulted the president! Not just that, but made a racist statement. He then stated that: “It’s a stupid metaphor to say I’m blacker than Barack Obama, that I apologize for,” he said. “It’s not appropriate for me, a white person, to stand out somehow and claim to be a black person, that’s just wrong … I was expressing frustration that the policies of this new administration still haven’t really been focusing on the great deal of inequities we have in our society.” He just claimed that Obama wasn’t focusing on inequities we have in our society, yet he had just made a racist statement the day before. This is completely nuts. If I I had the power to put him in jail for the rest of his life, I’d do it in a split second.
Something else I found interesting was, after all this happened, he appeared on Celebrity Apprentice, a show created by Donald Trump where people compete to gain a spot to work with Trump. Obviously he lost, but why would Trump want an idiot like Blagojevich on his show.





Can you believe he's still staying with his lie. Don't you think it's a little bit sketchy that they "wouldn't let the public listen to the phone conversations," as Blagojevich stated. He's got an excuse for everything, a tremendous liar, but you're always caught at one point, and he lied one to many times. I also found it interesting that so many government officials from Illinois are so corrupt. In my opinion, we should investigate a lot more than we are at this time.

Blagojevich, in my opinion, was beyond corrupt. He is a great liar, but was caught in the act with so much evidence that his lies didn't work anymore. In the video, he was stating that all of the government officials were corrupt except for him, which is almost impossible to believe, considering the word would've gotten out because someone would have found out and told. Blagojevich did do what he's saying he didn't, but it's an opinion of mine. What do you think?

Government Fraud

Once upon a time the United States Government was being bribed and controlled by Wall Street. That time has not yet ended. From your local town mayor all the way to President Obama, the financial sector are in complete control. How? Lets go back a few years and I'll show you.
The Financial Crisis of 2007-2010 started with what we all know as the collapse of the housing bubble. People could not afford to pay for their homes (which banks were well aware of when giving out the loans, AKA Mortgage Fraud), and so banks failed, over 300 of them since the crisis began. Economy was affected on the international level. Jobs were lost. People lost there houses. Live's were destroyed. And then there's Goldman Sachs, who grew bigger during the depression then they were before it. Even better than that, the only one of there competitors left was a very brittle Morgan and Stanley, while Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, Merril Lynch, and other major competitors were thrown into bankruptcy. Goldman Sachs then used a large portion of their bail-out money on bonus's for their own employee's! They were being given American Tax-Payer money as a bonus, when they were one of the banks responsible for the crisis to begin with! When it came to bailing out insurance companies, the government choose to focus most of its bailout money on AIG. Oh, by the way, AIG owed Goldman Sachs Billions of Dollars, and if they weren't bailed out, Goldman Sachs would have never received that money. Coincidence? I think not.

The U.S. Secretary of State and Chief Presidential Economic Adviser, Henry Paulson, used to be the Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs. He pretty much makes all of the financial decisions for our country. Three years before the crisis, Chris Swecker, the FBI Director, was already catching on to Insurance and Mortgage fraud, and even called for a new report to issue a warning. The government didn't begin his crackdown until Goldman had successfully removed all of its holding in the housing market. Our government was well aware of how banks and insurance companies were tricking Americans into expensive mortgage plans, and did absolutely nothing to stop it. Not only that, but after Goldman Sachs withdrew from the housing market, they even bet that it was going to crash! Obviously they were right.

When bail-out bills were in the process of being passed by congress, the makers of the bill gave only one hour before the vote to read the 1000+ page bill. They said they had no time to waste. Or did they have something to hide? These were the regulations printed on the bill "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this act are non-reviewable and committed to agency desecration, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." This means that Henry Paulson could do pretty much whatever he wanted to do with this money; and that no one in the world could have any say about where our tax-payer money went. What he did with the money is pretty much the reason why capitalism is thought to be an un-fair form of economy. Little companies just keep being eaten away by the bigger ones, and the fact that the government has it's own favorites make it even worse.

Now let me put something in perspective for all of you. The 2007-2010 Financial Crisis was started by none other than the banks, who were giving out mortgages to people that they knew wouldn't repay it. The government used an estimated 2 Trillion Tax-Payer dollars to bail them out. Now they are enjoying the bonus's while we are facing the consequences of what was their fault!

Henry Paulson, along with many, many other ex-Goldman Sachs employee's are still in our government. They are not here to help us, but are here to help there own wealth and business grow. They are criminals. Just recently an FBI Agent revealed papers which showed that Goldman Sachs was being given disclosed files of all stock orders headed to the exchange floor before they were even ordered! It's called High-Frequency Trading, and it's how Goldman Sachs and other huge business's have been making hundred's of millions of Dollars every day just by buying and selling stocks. They have super-fast computers positioned right on the Stock floor so they get everything first! Not only that, but it was a deal made with the runners of the Stock Exchange itself! This just goes to show the ill intentions of Goldman Sachs.

During President's Obama's campaign, he told voters he would not give donor's and lobbyists any positions in government. Not even 3 days after he was elected, dozens of his highest campaign donors (from Goldman Sachs), including Treasury Secretary Timothy Giethner (who was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, huge player on Wall Street), were given positions in Government.

The United States needs to wake up. Our Government needs to wake up; and the United States Citizens need to wake up and kick Wall Street out of our government.