Gov. Blagojevich hosing taxpayers?

According to John O'Connor, in an article carried by AP, Governor Blagojevich supporter and major contributer, PWS Environmental Inc., has received $522,000.00 in contracts with the state for work that experts say is unnecessary or could be performed less expensively by state employees.
Read the story here.

The quotes below, from the story, make it look like there was blatant corruption in the awarding of power washing and salt storage building cleaning contracts.

"PWS was an early backer of Blagojevich, first giving to the Democrat's gubernatorial campaign in June 2000, according to state records. The company and President William Mologousis have contributed a combined $24,780 to Blagojevich and $5,670 to his father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, or Mell's 33rd Ward Democratic organization.
Mologousis said the contributions and contracts were not related. He pointed out that the master contract the company won was competitively bid, although state records show PWS was the only bidder.
PWS Environmental has received contracts for $522,000 in state work this year, up from just $2,860 in 2001. Blagojevich took office in 2003."


This is but the most recent of a growing list of shady deals that seem to keep backtracking to Gov. Blago.
Is Gov. Blagojevich trying to outdo the legacy of George Ryan? Can we expect "the candidate Blagojevich" that claimed to want to change the way things work in Springfield to continue to fulfill his promise? He's changing things, alright. He may be making it dirtier and more corrupt than it ever was.

Illinois needs to cleanse itself of its national image of political corruption. Let's start at the top, and make Illinois a national model of how to serve the people of the state well, instead of how best to hose them.

Apologies

"For those of you I may have offended by my apology, I apologize. And in case that's not good enough, I apologize for that."
Trent Lott

Websters II, 1984
apology
1.An expression of regret for an offense or fault.
2.A formal defense:justification

regret
1.to feel sorry or distressed about
2.Distress over having done the wrong thing.
3.An expression of disappointment or sorrow.
4.regrets - A polite declining of an invitation

First, by demanding an apology, an assertion of power is extended or implied.
The apology, if given, acknowledges the power or legitimacy of the demander.
In the case of a Senator or other political figure, this power can be the voters, the party leadership, the parties that were "harmed or offended," and sometimes his/her own actual remorse.

A refusal to apologize can signify one or more of several situations.
One, for instance is that the one asked to apologize is not sorry, or considers the action or inaction justified.
Three examples of this:
December 1, 1991: President Bush refuses to apologize for the use of atomic bombs in World War II.

April, 1995: President Clinton says, "the United States owes no apology to Japan for having dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

September 25, 2002: Senate leader Tom Daschle demands that President Bush apologize for suggesting that Senate Democrats care more about special interests than national security.

What do the demanders of apologies want or expect to accomplish?
To extend redemption if the apologizer is effectively chastised to their satisfaction?
To deny redemption if the apologizer doesn't appear sincere?

Some examples of possibly insincere apologies:

July 17, 1984: At the Democratic National Convention, Jesse Jackson asks Jews for forgiveness for insensitive remarks he had made.

September 8, 2000: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sends a letter of apology to North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, expressing America's regret that North Korea's second in command, Kim Yong Nam, canceled plans of the 15 member North Korean delegation to attend a summit of 160 world leaders in New York after being asked to be searched in the Frankfurt airport.

Apologies seemed to be the order of the day during the last administration and were some of the most well crafted and well known "apologies" in recent memory.

March 26, 1998: President Clinton apologizes for inaction during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

This statement by President WJC is a crafted masterpiece of an apology.

AmericanDaily:
"Throughout the Clinton years, the former president was constantly apologizing. When visiting Africa he apologized for slavery. And he apologized for the burning of black churches in Arkansas when he was a child, though no such church burnings ever took place in Arkansas during that time."...

What can a good apology accomplish? Maybe a better question would be how much damage will a bad apology do? We can look to recent history with Trent Lott for an example. His transgession? A comment intended only to make a 100 year old politician smile at his birthday party. The thirst for blood by the "apology demanders" got red meat everytime he tried to clarify or apologize.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?
What about ignoring calls for apologies for charges that are unfounded or bogus?
What do you think makes an apology sincere or real?
Was Senator Durbin's emotional performance enough for you, or was he only a shadow of the apology meister in chief, WCJ?

Durbin - Aid and Comfort to the Enemy?

Lincoln Republican has an excellent post on this subject on the Decatur Conservative Blog.

"He epitomizes what the Democrats have become," noted Rush Limbaugh on Thursday, speaking of Durbin.

Sen. Durbin should stay tuned for much more fallout for his comments and atitutude.

liberal version of solid logic

If a circle is happy and a square is sad, what is a rectangle?
Answer: Disappointed.
This is a line from a radio ad from Netflix, from a series of like commercials currently running.
It's a funny line that could accurately reflect the liberal rendition of reason or maybe the liberal version of solid logic.

If liberal A states something, and liberal B responds, then what is a conservative?
Answer: Wrong

It would be funnier and unexpected if the lib would suggest an alternative, but this probably won't happen, because most humor is based on reality.

Anyone else have some examples of liberal thinking equations?

Polls... Making stuff up

Polls???
In repsonse to an article by The Decatur Democrat over on blogDecatur...

Rather than base my opinion on the latest polls that may or may not even be well done, I gather news and opinion from many sources. I then attempt to make logical decisions and observations of my own. A short list of some of my sources can be found in this blog's links section. You may notice that there are some well known "Liberal" media included. I observe many different angles of a story and form my own opinion of an issue. This is the "Solid Logic" that I generally employ. Making stuff up isn't necessary, the Liberals give us more than enough of that.

I don't mind the personal attack by TDD, though, since it usually indicates a certain amount of frustration on the part of the attacker. And I can understand your frustration. When faced with the logic of truth, many liberals choose to simply look past it. Others tend to lash out against it with emotional zeal.


MaconCountyRepublican said it best in a response to a blog post by Decatur Democrat. The only polls that make any difference are elections.

Many other polls are simply news filler. The interpretation of the numbers is only a part of a poll taker's goal, and the design of the poll is just as important as the manipulation of the interpretation. The following Media Research Center article demonstrates the way that the numbers can be manipulated in the major media NEWS reports on the polls. When polls are the subject of a news story, I usually suspect that an editorial will be made, usually indirectly, usually as part of the "news story." In my opinion, using polls for news is really just lazy reporting or a way to editorialize an agenda.

ABC's Charles Gibson highlighted "the highest disapproval rating for Mr. Bush since he took office. But Bush's approval level was statistically unchanged...
read more...
http://www.mediaresearchcenter.com/

Perceptions and Reality

This Chicago SunTimes article points out the discrepancy between
perceptions and reality.

June 8, 2005
BOSTON -- Sen. John F. Kerry's grade average at Yale University was virtually identical to President Bush's record there, despite repeated portrayals of Kerry as the more intellectual candidate during the 2004 presidential campaign.
read more...

Angry Left

The Decatur/Macon County Republican Blog has an interesting post about the angry tone of the Democrats and asks why?
Can someone on the left please explain exactly why you seem so angry?

MaconCountyRepublican