mojosmom

Well, our State Senate has convicted Rod Blagojevich and removed him from office, in a complete and utter travesty of a procedure.

Personally, I can't stand Blago, and I think we are well rid of him. But not like this.

Not with "jurors" who made it crystal clear that they'd made up their minds even before the House impeached him. Not with no standard of proof. Not with an outsider (the U.S Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois) deciding whether, and which, witnesses could be called on certain counts (and with the ability to direct a witness not to answer questions). Not when the Senators were not permitted to vote on the individual articles of impeachment, but were forced to vote "yea" or "nay" in a general verdict. (That means, you see, that there might not have been any single charge garnering the necessary 2/3 votes.) And, of course, the joke of seeing people attack the governor for implementing programs which they themselves had voted to fund, people who are proud to proclaim in legislative debates that they know a bill is unconstitutional, but are voting for it anyway because they're scared of their constituents.

They say one shouldn't watch sausages or laws being made. Same for this impeachment process. It turned my stomach.

I am exhausted and exhilarated. It was an extraordinary night. Pictures will be uploaded tomorrow evening and a full account rendered. For tonight, just let me say that there was laughing, crying, dancing, hugging of complete strangers, and it was the most well-mannered crowd I've ever seen. And if McCain's campaign had been half as decent as his concession speech, he might not have been giving one.

More to come.

I had to go to the dentist (well, hygienist) today, so as I have a bunch of time that I have to use or lose, I took the whole day off from work. The original plan was to do a bit of shopping and go to the Art Institute, but in the end I decided to engage in political, rather than cultural, activity. I did stop at T.J. Maxx (hey, it's not my fault that it's between my dentist's office and the bus stop!) and bought a really great new suit. Then I went home, had a bit of lunch, and then went to the local Obama headquarters and spent a couple of hours phoning people to try to find volunteers to go to Indiana on Saturday to canvass. Most of the calls I got voice mail (not a lot of folks home in the middle of the afternoon), but I did get a couple of folks who committed to Indiana and a few others who will come in to make calls to battleground states. What was particularly fun was that when I did reach people and said I was calling from the Obama campaign, people were excited to talk to me. I had a nice chat with a student in Virginia (you can never tell where people are these days from their phone numbers!) whose email address includes "Iloveobama08".

This evening, I went over to the Hyde Park Art Center for an amusing and informative evening related to a commissioning project they've been running, culminating in an exhibit called "Not Just Another Pretty Face". The event tonight was called "The Newly-Matched Game: Connected Through Art-Making". Patrons on one side, artists on the other, and through that quiz game format, we learned a lot about the patron/artist experience. We then went through the exhibit, looking in more detail at some of the works. One of the artists was my downstairs neighbor, a clay artist, and she and I walked home together. Turns out she's waitlisted for a ticket to Grant Park, so since it seems like I've got a ticket which will get me and a friend in, I invited her to join me if she doesn't end up with a ticket. I like Marva, and it will be fun to go with someone, so that's all good.

Three bedroom condo, with sun room, formal dining room, two baths, washer/dryer, dishwasher. Two blocks from bus to Olympic stadium, walking distance to stadium if you are feeling athletic yourself. Available summer, 2016. Exorbitant rent will finance owner's escape from the insanity.

Can you tell I'm not happy? Two more years of Mayor Daley lying about how this won't cost the taxpayers any money. Yeah, right. Could we all send positive vibes for Rio (or any other city that's in contention)?

In other words, I voted.

( Blagojevich vs. Topinka vs. Whitney )

( Congress )

( other races )

I'm thinking it will be a late night.

From today's Chicago Trib article about employees of Antoine's, dispersed by Katrina:

John Hoffmann Jr. doesn't know it, but back in Chalmette, La., there's a notice from a government inspector taped to the green front door of his home, which was about the only spot the inspector could have affixed it, because there is no longer an actual home standing behind the door.

"I visited your residence today to perform an inspection for the application you made with FEMA for disaster assistance," reads the form letter left by the inspector for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who, to post it, had to walk through the rubble and twisted metal strewn in front of the charred carcass of the strip mall where Hoffmann's apartment used to be.

"Since you were not there," the letter says, "I was unable to complete the inspection. Your application for housing assistance . . . cannot be processed until the inspection is completed."

The three-paragraph notice informs Hoffmann that he must call the inspector to arrange an appointment. But the part where the inspector's name and phone number are supposed to be filled in has been left blank.

Not that it really matters. Hoffmann has only a few hundred dollars in the bank and no way to get from his camper in the woods in Bentley, La., back to Chalmette to see the letter taped to his door. And even if he could make it back, Hoffmann couldn't read the Kafkaesque notice anyway. He is learning-disabled, an 8th-grade dropout and illiterate.

Class: Barack Obama paying tribute to the integrity and independence of his predecessor in office, Republican Peter Fitzgerald.

No-class: Alan Keyes refusing to concede, even though he lost by the largest margin ever in an Illinois Senate race.