Muscleboy:

“No the FBI has been wiretapping Blagojeviches phones for 5 years according to many reports. Your statement is so ridiculous I won’t respond to it.  I mean you seem to be saying that he was only wiretapped since October as if that would change my underlying argument anyway.”

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

“Starting Oct. 22, the FBI intercepted Blagojevich’s phone conversations made from two lines at the offices of Friends of Blagojevich, the governor’s campaign headquarters, as well as from a phone used in his home in Ravenswood.”

From GamePolitics.com:

“And…U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly, who ruled in 2005 that Blagojevich’s video game law was unconstitutional, was one of two federal judges who authorized recent FBI wiretaps that led to Blagojevich’s downfall.”  Note “recent.”

There are others.

The wiretaps are recent.  If you have evidence to the contrary, provide it.

Peace.

Fitzgerald was hired BY BUSH!!! that is enough said!!

BUSH FIRED ALL THE PROSECUTORS THAT REFUSED TO BE HIS TROLLS!! 

Fitzgerald is 100 percent BUSH CERTIFIED!

No the FBI has been wiretapping Blagojeviches phones for 5 years according to many reports. Your statement is so ridiculous I won’t respond to it.  I mean you seem to be saying that he was only wiretapped since October as if that would change my underlying argument anyway.

“LOOKING AT” according to numerous reports included wiretapping his phones for five years.

I can’t believe America doesn’t have a simple law stating that anyone indicted for a criminal offense must step aside for his no.2 until convicted (and then stripped) or found innocent.

Muscleboy:

Your facts are basically correct, but your implication is faulty.

It is true that the FBI has been “looking at” Blagojevich almost since he took office, in connection with an ongoing investigation called “Operation Board Games,” which had to do with public corruption schemes, kickbacks and influence peddling.  And they apprently had enough from their ongoing investigation of others to bring Blagojevich “into play” in this regard.

However, they did not begin tapping Balgojevich’s phones and investigating him in earnest until October 2007, as the result of evidence that came out of the Antoin Rezko trial.

Peace.

I’m sure the FBI was only working within the boundaries given them by the USA Patriot Act.

They’ve used this same Act to successfully prosecute domestic criminals not involved in terrorism.

If indeed Governor Blagojevich has conspired to benefit from the senatorial appointment, then this needs to be addressed and resolved.  If he hasn’t, then he will have the opportunity to show his innocence.

Once released for public consideration, the FBI recordings will show what was said and should help to clarify the situation.

You can find it in ap reports if you care to look.  It has been reported that the surveillance governor has been going on for 5 years in news reports I’ve seen from several wire services.

Muscleboy:

Please provide support for your statement that the FBI has been “spying on” Blagojevich for five years.  As far as I know (and I have read quite a bit on this as it has unfolded), Blagojevich has, indeed, been SUSPECTED of skullduggery and chicanery, but the FBI wiretap only occurred as the result of the Antoin Rezko case, in which Blagojevich was apparently deeply involved.

Peace.

Governor Blagojevich should file counter charges

Blagojavich was spied on by the felonious, thieving, mass murdering Bush administration for five years.  He never once actually committed a single act of pay-to-play crime in this entire time.  That proves, conclusively, that his puffy powerful sounding venting, was just that, venting, joking using dark humor, you name it. 

What in the royal hell is the FBI doing spying on an American for five hole years and then charging them with talking about a potential crime?  Five years of spying proves he’s not the criminal his words seem to say.

And why do all the morons keep making fun of his name? This country is just so bleeping stupid.  The legislature and attorney general of Illinois are also monsters in taking aggressive actions against the governor with such weak charges after 5 years of 24 hour a day spying.  Probably few of them would not be chargeable the if the same spying had occur ed against them.  The attorney general, working for the state, should have participated in an advisory way with the governor not as partner to the Republicon persecutor.  And why hasn’t Illinois specified specific rules of conduct and procedure for those in elected office like other states have?  This entire show is shameful not because of anything Blagojevich said in the privacy of his own home but because of the show the Bush prosecutor made and the Democratic party members, of all people, who have worked to take away Blagojevich’s most basic rights as a person.  Blagojevich is the least guilty when you consider the horrendous misconduct of spying on someone for 5 years and the “Lincoln is turning over in his grave” speech to have him tried in the public arena. 

Many top attorneys who specialize in such matters have reviewed the indictment and said flat out it is without merit.

Blagojevich should file counter charges against the Justice department and the FBI for spying on him without due cause.

Libarchist:

Right you are!  The following might interest you; it is from Frank Rich’s column in the Sunday NYT:

“What went down in the land of Lincoln is just the reductio ad absurdum of an American era where both entitlement and corruption have been the calling cards of power.  Blagojevich’s alleged crimes pale next to the larger scandals of Washington and Wall Street.  Yet those who promoted and condoned the twin national catastrophes of reckless war in Iraq and reckless gambling in our markets have largely escaped the accountability that now seems to await the Chicago punk nabbed by the United States attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald.”

(Who says that the MSM doesn’t have its moment?!  LOL).

Peace.

Blowjobovich isn’t the brightest light on the block…when you have an inkling that you’re being investigated, you don’t go ahead and challenge your accusers to spy on you, as he did the day before his arrest.

His wife doesn’t sound all that wonderful, either.

I’m looking forward to hearing the actual recordings noted by the authorities.  They will speak the truth that Blowjobovich appears unable to utter.

BRAVO dihey.  That’s ALL we need in this presently screwed up country - removal from office by lawless edict.

Coloradocarl: I want to tell you why I disagree with your conclusion that Governor Blagojevich is “holding Ill. ransom for $1.4 billion”. The GA of Illinois must certify that the Governor is not involved in any court proceedings before he can legally disburse this money.  Tsarina Madigan has declared that she cannot vouchsafe this only seconds after she announced the opening of such a case against Blago! A summit of hypocrisy!! It is therefore the Illinois AG and not the Governor of the State which is “holding Ill. ransom for $1.4 billion”. Absent her action he could have signed the bills. Now he cannot. Please try again.
I hope that your statement “B. is crazy like a fox” is merely a figure of speech. Are you a psychiatrist who can determine that B. is legally crazy? That is not insignificant because it is exactly a requirement that Tsarina Madigan is ignoring. I hope that we all will come to understand the immense danger of her creation of an unwarranted and illegal precedence. Once the finger is out of the dike any future AG can create tons of mischief in Illinois. I am not a defender of Blago (I do not live in Illinois) but if she serves at his “pleasure” he ought to fire her now.

I have given some thought to the question why Senator Durban’s proposal to hold elections for the Illinois Senate seat vacated by Mr. Obama has been quietly buried by the Democratic Party and why Illinois GA Madigan is attempting to “remove” Governor Blagojevich as pronto as possible. Much of the answers can be found in the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

(1) Clearly the Governor of Illinois (“Executive Authority”) can call (“writ”) for elections but Blagojevich is not likely but may have threatened to do just that.
(2) The Illinois legislature can take the replacement power away from the Governor and order elections. That may require an override of Blago’s veto. However, the very last thing the Democratic Party wants to happen is a debate on the issue in the Illinois legislature which would give the Republicans several field days.
(3) Equally bad things will happen for the Democratic Party if Blago appoints himself to the US Senate. To be sure, the US Senate will refuse to seat him but once again the Democratic Party dreads the necessary debate on his seating in the US Senate.
(4) As seen in the klieg lights of (1) to (3) AG Madigan’s deplorable action is high-handed “prevent defense” because if she succeeds the power to appoint will immediately go to the Lt. Governor who will then appoint one of Obama’s darlings and (1) to (3) become moot.

coloradokarl I concur with you one one thing you wrote (but not on others): this is strategy right out of the Politics 101 text book. I sometimes wonder whether Politics 101 is indeed the only way our country can be governed.

Gov. B. Is crazy…...Crazy like a fox, just watch and see, right now he is holding Ill. ransom for $1.4 billion. He is likely got the goods on several developers. He is trying to get his retirement together. It’s a ,“fuck me?”-“fuck you !”, strategy right out of the Politics 101 text book. Watch and learn, Folks!!!

This is just as malodorous as Blago’s bragging. Apparently AG Madigan does not remember or else ignores the recent firing of US Attorneys for political reasons by the Bush administration. Her action is the reverse by asking appointed persons to meddle in the political process. Remember the disaster of Gore vs. Bush of 2000?

Moreover, the Illinois law is designed to keep governance going when its governor is “incapacitated” meaning seriously ill. Only medical persons can determine whether Blago is “incapacitated”. Madigan arrogates that ability to herself. Blago is not in any kind of hospital or under any kind of treatment, hence she has no business declaring him to be “incapacitated”. Louis XIV is applauding in his grave.

To top it off she starts a legal procedure against Blago and, without batting an eye, declares that she cannot certify that there are no legal procedures against him. As a result numerous residents of Illinois who depend on State payments are out in the cold thanks to her undemocratic action.

In a democracy elected officials should be removed by elected officials only. The process is called impeachment and, AG Madigan, if you do not understand this you are in the wrong office. Hopefully the Illinois Supreme Court understands this misbehavior and refuses to take the case.

President Elect Obama and all other Illinois Democrats should demand that AG Madigan resign too. She has grossly overstepped her power.

This is FREE ENTERPRISE at its’ FINEST….This IS WHAT AMERICAN POLITICS IS BASED ON….I’LL STROKE YOURS if YOU STROKE MINE IS WHAT ITS’ALL ABOUT…...

It is absolutely inconceivable that Obama is not extremely interested in who will succeed him in the US senate seat which he has just vacated.  If the corrupt Blago, out of sheer spite (because he has been allegedly told that he will not be getting anything in return even if he acts according to Obama’s wishes in the matter), appoints a Republican or even a known Democratic critic of Obama to the Senate, the President-elect will have one less senator to support his legislative plans and one more senatorial enemy to contend with at least for the next two years. But, it has been widely reported that Obama has been receiving regular, daily briefings from various federal intelligence agencies including the FBI.  Hence, it is equally inconceivable that Obama had not been fore-warned about the court-authorized wire-tapping of Blago’s phone conversations by the FBI and that he was not advised well in advance to keep a safe distance from the Illinois governor and keep his nose clean in this regard so that he can claim with a straight face that he had no inkling of what the Blago character was up to when the story will inevitably break out (as it has done now).  To what extent Obama would have entangled himself in this murky business, going by his past record of associating himself with unsavory characters and also records in the art of wheeling-and-dealing of some of his own aides,  had he not been tipped off by the FBI, is anybody’s guess!

The genuine criminals are in the White House—or about to be—and Congress. 

Restorative justice—is what a genuine liberal/progressive would be advocating for now.

Those politicians calling for Blagojevich’s head; are just a blue dog Democrats, looking to loot America.

______________________________

Restorative justice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_justice

Transformative justice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformative_justice