Canales News Briefs

December 10, 2008

"...Now it's take and take and takeover, takeover

It's all take and never give

All these trumped up towers

They're just golden showers

Where are people supposed to live?

You can arm yourself, alarm yourself

But there's nowhere you can run

'Cause a man with a briefcase

can steal more money

Than any man with a gun.

I said gimme, gimme what you got

Said gimme, gimme what you got

Gimme, gimme what you got

Gimme, gimme what you got.

You got the price of admission-

You don't have to ask permission

To take somethin' from another man

You cross a lawyer with the godfather, baby

Make you an offer that you can't understand...."

- Partial lyrics from the song "Gimme What You Got"

by Don Henley, from the album "End of The Innocence"

(1989, Geffen Records)

To All,

Something tells this poster that all the politicians from what press wags have dubbed "Crook County, Illinois" are going to be too busy to "do gun control" for a while:

Wait For It:

Political junkies have finally gotten what they had hoped for, though it's already five weeks after the Election of 2008. I speak of the corruption of the political machines in Illinois, and how much Tony Rezko was cooperating with US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in matters related to the Federal investigation of that quirky Chicago political custom of "pay-to-play".

In what some could call the "Perp Walk Heard 'Round The World", Governor Rod Blagojevitch (D-IL) was arrested at dawn along with chief aide John Harris on charges related to a 78 page Federal Complaint. Charges revolve around demands by Blagojevich for campaign contributions to his "Friends of Blagojevich" campaign committee in return for gubernatorial action on public job placement, funding for a children's hospital, funding of the fire sale of Wrigley Field from the distressed Chicago Tribune, potential actions related to a purported sale of the appointment of the next junior Senator from the state of Illinois, and the provision of lucrative jobs for both Blagojevich and his wife in a post-gubernatorial world.

While many journalists are selecting portions of the complaint to focus on, including potential involvement of former and current Congresspersons in what could be called "negotiations" over gubernatorial actions in response to certain kinds of quid pro quo, one should actually read the Federal complaint to see what kind of "cards" Patrick Fitzgerald has towards the kind of "pinky leverage" that he has over Suspect Blago (or, as John Kass of the Chicago Tribune has dubbed him, "Governor Dead Meat").

And what is sure to cause anyone who has ever had any dealings of any kind with Governor Dead Meat in the last 6 years the kind of distress that gallons of Pepto Bismol cannot relieve is that the Federal Complaint alleges that it has Illinois First Lady Patricia Blagojevich recorded on Federal wiretaps participating in some of the allegedly illegal activities alongside the Governor.

It would be clear to anyone who has seen portrayals on any of the network crime shows in such situations that charges could be filed on Mrs. Blagojevich as well as Hizzoner the Guv. As such, child custody issues become problematic should she be tried and convicted of participating in what amounts to wire fraud, bribery, and possibly even extortion charges involving the Chicago Tribune's editorial position on the impeachment of Governor Blagojevich or the post-gubernatorial job hunt.

In essence, it's not so much a matter of whether Governor Dead Meat will sing or not. It's more likely a matter of how many others who purportedly have "strained relations" with Blagojevich will be "fingered" by him in his attempt to minimize the penalties he will be asked to pay (Upon any convictions, of course.).

If anything, the attempts by the Chicago Machine to amputate Blagojevich from the Body of the Machine may just lead him to believe that Fitzgerald may be his only real friend in the world. After all, Fiztgerald has already proven by his solicitations of suspension of sentence for Tony Rezko's convictions that he will "do business" if it leads to a further outing of corrupt politicians.

Others may just best advised to sing now, rather than pay later in terminated careers and a wardrobe change that involves striped canvass. Some of these may include "Senate Candidate # 5" (Jesse Jackson Jr. ), "Advisor B" (Rahm Emmanuel), and possibly even President-Elect Obama (who in this inter-regnum between his resignation from the Senate and his inauguration as President is a private individual without any relation to the Department of Justice and it's investigatory activities.).

Now, it is clear from the press conference that Fitzgerald has not yet included President-Elect Obama in the current charges revolving Governor Dead Meat.

But it is also clear that Fitzgerald has in the past gotten a grand jury subpoena to extract all loan documents related to the land sale between between the Rezko's and the Obama's. Also, said sale is one that could most likely would have involved variances of planning codes and changes in status as related to state taxes, both of which may involve interaction with local and state government.

If it's true that appraisal documents were altered to "grease the deal", and the Obamas knew about it and benefited from a falsified transaction involving Federally-guaranteed funds, then the status of the Obamas' "non-involvement" in Fitzgerald's investigation may just change forthwith.

And if it's true that the alteration of the appraisals of the 10 foot easement resulted in an understatement of it's sale value, then the true difference might have resulted in an un-declared form of compensation which might be similar to the kind of deal that has landed Randy "Duke" Cunningham a long term guest stay in the Gray Bar Hotel (or likewise threaten the retirement prospects of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-AK).

These next few weeks may prove highly problematic to the President-Elect. At the very least, it's the kind of "false start" to the reign of the "O-ster" that can poison the ability of a President to get anything done (Just ask Bubba). Whether Obama makes it out of the starting block, or gets disqualified for an early start, remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

Links at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-blago-extradec09,0,6988635.column

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blagojevich_patti_10dec10,0,1460523.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2008-12/43789434.pdf

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/ConductUnbecoming/Story?id=6431739&page=1

http://www.connecttristates.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=217582

http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20081210/cm_rcp/illinois_has_long_been_for_sal

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmIzMDFmZTBmYzVmNTc5YmU0Nzc4ZDkzOTA4MDEyMWQ=

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-obama-transcript_10dec10,0,7946089.story?page=1

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9502QS83&show_article=1

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9501J480&show_article=1

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzhiYmFlMDZiNzkxYmZlMThmMTZjNDJlYzYwM2ZhNjY=

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/clues-to-identity-of-candidates-1-6-2008-12-09.html

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/12/democratic_party_scandal_how_h.html

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1208/A_tip_from_Rahm_.html

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1208/Source_SEIU_official_was_Stern.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/09/AR2008120903057_pf.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-blago-extradec09,0,6988635.column

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-city-hall-hiring-02-dec02,0,1032651.story

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2007/pr0531_01.pdf

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/jb/2008/10/obama-and-the-grand-jury-of-the-future/

http://www.newsweek.com/id/165803/output/print

http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/batchelor-what-is-rezko-talking-about/

(Half)-Baked, and With Lard:

Yahoo News is reporting that problems are arising with the auto industry bail out bill in the Senate Side of the equation.

While Lady Nancy has the means in which to exact pain and domination in the House Side, Senators like Max Baucus (D-Montana) have problems with the previously unmentioned bail-out of certain mass transit program schemes that were apparently ruled unconstitutional by the courts.

Add to that a pay raise for federal judges, and it's apparent that the Democrat Leadership is still up to it's "pay for play" (otherwise known as "trade-offs" or "concessions") in a time frame that's critical for UAW survival.

It's hard to imagine what kinds of rhetoric can sell GOP Senators (with non-UAW auto labor constituents to answer to no less) on a bail out of a UAW that was part of the union juggernaut that hammered them in the recent election. But it will be interesting to see the final Senate tally, especially it if turns out that the Big Three have largely lost their influence among a number of American pols due to their aggressive past outsourcing and off-shoring of sub-component manufacturing to Asia and Mexico. Stay tuned.

Link at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_on_go_co/congress_autos

Respectfully,

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA

except as noted.