All Kinda Stuff

Where to start...

...the Lasik surgery went well, thanks to everybody who sent e-mails. My eyes are still pretty dry, but for now my eyesight is 20/15, pretty amazing given that before the procedure, I couldn't read a newspaper from a foot away. (But as good as my vision is now, I still can't see the logic behind the 'sell the Lottery for the schools' idea.)

...Spent a couple of days visiting some friends in Michigan. It's amazing how relaxing 48 hours of hanging out, surfing on the Lake (it's early in the season, but still doable), and not checking your e-mails can be. A person could get used to that. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

...You could have seen the latest verdicts coming down the tracks like a locomotive. If you're going to put on a Nuremberg-type defense, you need to put your client, or somebody, on the stand to say who was giving the orders that got you into trouble. Otherwise, you are just rolling the dice that the jury is just going to say that the defendants are just fall guys and we're not going to convict them. Those days are over.

...On a related note, while I understand that people are trying to paint Joe Cini as the fall guy in the latest investigation, I don't feel good about it at all, and based upon what I know, I'm not buying it. Joe is a good person and I don't like seeing good people thrown under a bus. I hope that he comes out of all of this okay. As others have alluded to, or straight out said, I believe that there is a LOT of stuff still to come, and it will be fascinating to see how it plays out.

...I also think that a lot of this may have come out sooner but for the black box that is the Executive Inspector General's office. I am not blaming any person in particular, but rather, the system itself which has a KGB-like secrecy about it. Joined by Cyndy Canary, Sen. Kirk Dillard, and Ethics Director Scott Turow, this past Spring, we called for more openness in the process of reviewing complaints and on their disposition. Otherwise, you can't help but wonder what is going on.

I always was puzzled by Z. Scott's sudden and silent departure, and think that there will be more to come out about this in the future. It also makes one wonder about the departure of the Governor's former counsel Susan Lichtenstein; but that's part of the problem that has been created. Everybody has become cynical about everything that they are hearing now. It has to create an untenable climate in which to govern, let alone campaign.

...The whole Stroger thing - without even getting into the merits or the individuals involved in this theater, does anybody come out looking good in this thing? Could Democrats in Chicago, Cook County or Illinois be doing anything more to alienate our base? Something's gonna give, and sooner rather than later.

My apologies for the rather informal and somewhat superficial presentation of my thoughts, but it's late and I'm tired. Feel free to comment any of the above or, as usual, anything else that you feel like.