Ward on Words

My senator, Roland Burris, is speaking up on an issue top-of-mind these days - his integrity. It seems that people have questioned his integrity following his acceptance of disgraced Governor Blagojevich's senate appointment. They're beginning to wonder just how Mr. Squeaky Clean gained the attention of the poetry-spouting scam artist formerly known as the governor of Illinois. Apparently, there is a "major omission from his testimony...that appeared to contradict statements he made to a state House committee investigating former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's impeachment," says an AP article in today's Washington Post . Blagojevich's brother allegedly had asked Burris to host a fundraiser prior to becoming Senator, a fact Burris failed to mention in any hearings into the matter. Interesting - but not surprising - that a man seeking to sell the senate seat also sought to ask Burris to raise some $$s for him. The Chicago Tribune characterizes Burris...

I’m a dreamer – yes I am, a died-in-the-wool dreamer who dreams that liberty and justice and the American way mingle together in peaceful co-existence. But lately, as you can imagine, my dreams leave me with the strange, nightmare sensations of anxiety, panic and fear. I wake up these days realizing that what we're witnessing today is a total failure of leadership. We live in a society where we simply cannot trust bankers, mortgage brokers, priests, presidents, vice-presidents, the CIA, Treasury secretaries and governors. At least not the governors of Illinois. Especially not the current governor. Just last month – in fact, it was just the day after the celebratory send-off party in Grant Park for Barack Obama as he said good-bye to his senate seat and hello to the presidency – Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was recorded as saying, “I’ve got this thing and it’s f***ing golden, and uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for f***in’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I ...

At least I thought I voted for change, way back in 2002, when I cast my vote for Rod Blagojevich for governor. George Ryan, the Republican governor who preceded Blagojevich, had left office under a cloud of suspicion (sending millions of dollars in state contracts to friends and family, granting truck driver’s licenses to unqualified drivers in return for cash.) He now sits in jail, waiting patiently for the early release that Illinois Senator Dick Durbin inexplicably seeks for him. During his term as governor, Ryan had met with Fidel Castro and ended the death sentence in Illinois due to concerns that it was not administered fairly, an action led to his nomination for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. Yet he balanced a desire to help others with an insatiable greed. In 2006, he was convicted on multiple charges of corruption and has served less than two years of a six-year prison sentence. In 2002, Blagojevich charged into the governor’s office waving the flag of reform. Yesterday,...