29 days and counting--Gov. Blagojevich still hasn't returned his Rezko cash

The Illinois Republican Party sent me an e-mail yesterday:

It's been 28 days (now 29) since Rod Blagojevich's pal and top fundraiser Tony Rezko was convicted on charges of swindling Illinois' taxpayers and the question voters are still asking:

Will Rod Blagojevich give back the $1.4 million Tony Rezko raised for his campaign fund?

Meanhwhile, the drums of impeachment are getting louder.

Related post:

Obama meets with Dem govs in Chicago--Blagojevich downstate

Ill. House Speaker circulating papers on impeachment of governor

Great orator Obama silent on Illinois Rezko fallout

Technorati tags: politics Illinois Election Democrats Chicago Tony Rezko corruption legal Blagojevich

My industry is failing, can your more successful one help me out?

I had someone ask me in this process—I don't remember who it was, but somebody asked me, you know, 'Are you going to be on the side of the little guy?' And you obviously want to give an immediate answer, but, as you reflect on it, if the Constitution says that the little guy should win, the little guy's going to win in court before me. But if the Constitution says that the big guy should win, well, then the big guy's going to win, because my obligation is to the Constitution. That's the oath.
Chief Justice John Roberts testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 2005.

But of course the US Constitution doesn't say "the little guy should win." Nor does the Illinois Constitution.

Why I'm I bringing this up? Because earlier this evening I took part in a conference call with Andrew Langer, the president of the Washington-based Institute for Liberty. And he's not happy, explaining to fellow Illinois bloggers that "We think a a very dangerous precedent has been set here." On what? Today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch tells us:

Four Illinois casinos are asking the state's Supreme Court to reconsider its June ruling that they pay about $76 million to the state's struggling horse racing industry.

The dispute centers on a 2006 state law that requires the state's top-grossing casinos to pay 3 percent of their revenues to the horse racing industry, including Fairmount Park at Collinsville. The fee came off revenue above $200 million a year, which affected just the four highest-grossing casinos, at Aurora, Elgin and the two in Joliet.

Those casinos sued, arguing the law unfairly taxed them and didn't touch the state's five other facilities, including those at East St. Louis and Alton. The Illinois Supreme Court upheld the law June 5.

On Thursday, the casinos filed a motion asking the state's high court to reconsider that opinion. The motion asks the court to take another look at their argument that it's unfair to "take tens of millions of dollars out of the pockets of casinos to subsidize the horse-racing industry," especially when that burden falls on some casinos but not others.

A very dangerous precedent indeed. The horse racing industry has been slowly dying for years in Illinois. Casino boats are the main culprit, but there's more going on here. Younger people are not interested in going to the track, and unlike a casino, it's hardly an ideal dating locale.

Langer explains what the law does is allow "non-performing small businesses to be propped up by their better performing brethren."

Is that how we want our economy to be run? For decades, unprofitable and dysfunctional industries were propped up the state in Eastern Europe. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Eastern Europe, which at the start of World War II had roughly the same standard of living as its fellow Europeans in the West, were living in marked poverty compared to their brethren on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

The horse racing subsidy law is non-sensical. Going back to Roberts' comments, sometimes "the little guy" loses. The first rule of capitalism is that businesses are supposed to fail.

It should be up to the horse racing industry to adapt--or die. One hundred years ago, every small town and every busy city intersection had at least one blacksmith--they made shoes for horses. When automobiles became affordable in the 1920s, did the US Congress, or the Illinios General Assembly, ask General Motors or Ford to subsidize blacksmiths? Of course not. I'm sure some of those former blacksmiths ended up taking assembly line jobs.

And sometimes "the big guys" lose. Eighty years later, General Motors and Ford are struggling. Consumers, the private sector's incarnation of the voter, are choosing Toyotas and Nissans. That's the way it is. That's the way it should be.

The casino industry shouldn't have to bail out horse racing tracks.

But the Illinois General Assembly, and the State Supreme Court, don't understand. Perhaps they should have a chat with Chief Justice Roberts.

Technorati tags: Illinois Politics law legal Illinois Casinos gambling horse racing betting

My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Vicksburg Battlefield Part Five

I thought I'd take one more look at the Vicksburg Battlefield National Historic Park. By 1863, the Civil War became greater than a battle between states and the right--or lack of--to secede from the United States. Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was issued on New Year's Day that year, so the struggle became a conflict to end slavery. On the left is what I believe is the newest memorial within the battlefield park, the African American Monument. The statue consists of two black soldiers and a common field hand, the base is African marble.

From the Vicksburg Battlefield site:

The field hand and one soldier support between them the second soldier, who is wounded and represents the sacrifice in blood made by black soldiers on the field of battle during the Civil War. The field hand looks behind at a past of slavery, while the first soldier gazes toward a future of freedom secured by force of arms on the field of battle.

Of the photographs of the city of Vicksburg at the time of the siege, one building stands out, what is now known at the Old Court House. Pictured on the right, it's now a museum.
Below is the view of the Yazoo River Diversion Canal from Fort Hill, the anchor of the northern end of the Confederate defenses. According to the National Park Service's Vicksburg brochure, Fort Hill "was so formidable that no Union attack was ever made against it. Confederate gunners posted here helped the river batteries sing the Federal gunboat Cincinnati on May 27, 1863." Fort Hill offers the most commanding view of the park, this was confirmed to me by an off-duty ranger, who was giving a private tour of the park to her husband.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the diversionary canal marks where the Mississippi River flowed at the time of the battle.

As we're just a couple of days from our Independence Day celebration, I want to add that the Confederate forces at Vicksburg surrendered to the Northerners on July 4. It would not be until 1944 that Vicksburg would have a 4th of July parade.

Next: Onward to Highway 61 and a Teddy Bear

Vicksburg-related posts:

Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Four, The USS Cairo
Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Three, Illinois Memorial
Mississippi River at Vicksburg
Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Two, State Memorials
Vicksburg Battlefield, Part One
Jewish Mississippi
Memorial Day tribute to our ally Australia
Memorial Day--a time to remember

Technorati tags: history Americana byways travel travel blog history photography photos Mississippi Vicksburg Civil War Navy Mississippi River African American black

Washington Post: Obama got discount on mortgage for his mansion

First Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), then Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), now the king of all Democrats, Barack Obama, has a mortgage problem. By the way, Obama's hometown, Chicago, has been hit hard by the housing bubble.

The Washington Post's Joe Stephen has the scoop:

Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion (pictured above) in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois. The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago.

More...

The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a "Super Super Jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates.

Some more...

Compared with the average terms offered at the time in Chicago, Obama's rate could have saved him more than $300 per month.

And finally...

The Obamas had no prior relationship with Northern Trust when they applied for the loan. They received an oral commitment on Feb. 4, 2005, and locked in the rate of 5.625 percent, the campaign said. On that date, HSH data show, the average rate in Chicago for a 30-year fixed-rate jumbo loan with no points was about 5.94 percent.

As I noted just yesterday, on the same day the Obamas closed on their mansion, Rita Rezko, wife of since-convicted felon Tony Rezko, purchased the "Rezko lot" strip adjacent to the Obama property, which is just behind the "For Sale" sign. In what I believe was a backhanded loan, six months later, the Obamas purchased a 10 foot parcel of the lot. Obama denies it, but my suspicion is that as Barack Obama's book royalties rolled in, the Obamas would slowly peck away at the Rezko lot.

But the Chicago Tribune found out about the deals in late 2006.

UPDATE 8:40 AM CST:

The Chicago Tribune's Swamp Blog adds its take, Frank James is hedging his bets on the Post story, but add's this analysis:

Still, coming as it does after all the disclosures of the erstwhile Friends of Angelo program at Countrywide Financial which apparently benefited some members of Congress and at least one former member of the Obama campaign team, James Johnson, who headed up Obama's vice presidential selection process until stepping down because of the scandalette, this story about Obama's mortgage is certainly worth knowing about.

Look for an Obama spokesperson, but not Obama of course, to dismiss the mortgage story.

Related post:

Revolt at the polls against the Cook County corruption tax called by Democratic reformer (with Rita Rezko)

Surge is working: Iraq meets 15 of 18 benchmarks

Retired General Wesley Clark keeps claiming that Barack Obama possesses better judgement than John McCain. But not only was McCain in favor of the surge before President Bush was, Obama has never supported the Iraq troop surge. Fox News has more:

The Iraqi government achieved "satisfactory" progress on 15 of 18 political benchmarks, almost twice the number it had reached just a year ago, according to a White House report.

In a May 2008 report to Congress obtained by the Associated Press, the Bush administration wrote that Baghdad politicians reached several new agreements seen as critical to easing sectarian tensions.

Iraqi politicians passed legislation that granted amnesty to some prisoners and allowed former members of Saddam Hussein's political party to recover lost jobs or pensions. They also determined that provincial elections would be held by Oct. 1.

Only two of the benchmarks — enacting and implementing laws to disarm militias and distribute oil revenues — remained "unsatisfactory."

The benchmarks, reluctantly accepted by the Iraqi government in 2007, are unofficially attached to the continued US military aid to the country.

Technorati tags: politics news Democrats Obama politics Barack Obama McCain John McCain Republican Wesley Clark Iraq العراق