One-Minute Timeout: We Are the Champions

I found the above video on the Warrior's Back-to-Back State Champion Women's Soccer Team Website. Last summer U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert gives her one-minute shout out to the Tribe. While we make fun of these "One-minute resolutions" legislatures use them to make constituents feel happy and proud. I did when I saw it.

www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8586164

And even more Warrior Pride was seen when I read and watched about the 30 Warrior athletes that helped put on the first Family Fitness Night at Fry Elementary School. Politics were involved in the debate over where Fry graduates would eventually go to high school. But this is an example of governing by the people. These Warriors jumped right on President Obama's call to national service. I couldn't be more proud to be a Warrior!

http://web.mac.com/bergstromjulie13/WVSOCCER/FRY.html

"Gotta Run, Rod"

We posted in December (12/9) the question of whether Illinois was the most corrupt state in the union. After yesterday's historic day, where the Land of Lincoln officially ran Rod Blagojevich out of the Captiol office he seemingly was never at, it's time to compare the former Gov's situation -- not to Ghandi or Mandella -- but to Nigeria.

A Nigerian living in the US maintains a blog he calls, Grandiose Parlor.

In a recent post, the blogger does some comparative politics by examining the cases of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevic and some Nigerian governors charged with similar levels of corruption.

The comparison is not favorable to the Nigerian governors or the Nigerian regime.

Musing on Illinois governor Blagojevic and his Nigerian counterparts

"A comparison between Blagojevic and Nigerian governors: while the two are corrupt — well, maybe not in equal measures, the political system in the state of Illinois is able to self-correct, promptly...

"[T]he Nigerian Guardian newspaper captures the Rod Blagojevic matter...

"'First, Mr Blagojevic and his admirers did not plead an immunity... Secondly, Mr Blagojevic was not blindly supported by his own political party... Third, the law enforcement agencies were not corralled out of intrepid investigation...

"'In contrast, Nigeria is unfortunately in the abyss of institutional and leadership collapse. The typical Nigerian state governor today, more or less Mr Blagojevic’s counterpart, is virtually unavailable to account to any institution or person...'"

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Next, CBS 2 School has this comparison of Illinois politics to the Wizard of Oz. You US History scholars might remember the Oz allegory comparison to the Populist movement.

Before he became Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn stated that Illinois politics was beginning to resemble the Wizard of Oz. With the departure of Wicked from Chicago and Rod Blagojevich from the governor’s office, there seems no better time to delve into the similarities between Illinois and Oz.

Wicked Vich of the West
We’ll start off with the easiest comparison of Blagojevich and the Wicked Witch of the West. The Illinois Senate has now melted Blago with 59 cups of water in his conviction and ouster from the governor’s office.

While he’s known for his poetry, Blago’s last ditch public appeals bore more resemblance to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked in which we learn about the complexities of the evil witch. In Wicked, Elphaba must battle rival witches, a culture of corruption and constantly being misunderstood. Add some FBI wiretaps, and you’ve got a musical starring Blago.

Dorothy
We haven’t seen him wear any ruby red shoes lately, but new Governor Pat Quinn still makes a wonderful Dorothy.

For three decades, Quinn has been a political outsider championing the causes of reform and the marginalized. He now enters the world of insiders where all of the characters have a little more color.

His yellow brick road will take him to Springfield, but watch out. Flying monkeys, tax hikes and plenty of other obstacles will be lurking and attempting to side track his bid to win in 2010.

Cowardly Lion
Like the Cowardly Lion, the General Assembly finally gathered enough courage for confrontation at the end. But even Blago was confused by this newfound bravado.

Several of the impeachment articles related to actions Blago took in his first term when plenty of Democrats in the General Assembly supported these efforts and then supported his re-election. They then managed to find the courage to impeach him for these and other offenses.

Toto
We’ve managed to impeach a governor with hardly a mention about Illinois Republicans, and that’s where Toto comes in.

As the minority party, Illinois Republicans are expected to play the role of watchdog. But with their own recent ethics scandals and political woes, the Illinois GOP seems to have as much bite as cute little Toto.

Scarecrow
That’s where you come in.

You, the voters of Illinois, have managed to elect three recent governors who have ended up in prison. You also re-elected this most recent governor despite full knowledge that he was the subject of serious FBI investigations.

You have a terrible of track record of voting with no brain, and until you get some smarts we’re probably destined for more of the same.

Others?
We’ve left plenty of roles uncast. Feel free to comment on who you think would be the best fit to play the Munchkins, the monkeys and of course the Wizard.
_________________________

Check out the Chicago Sun-Times site, "Blagobusted.com" for full coverage of the removal by impeachment of Blagojevich. By the way the tollway signs with Blago's name prominently plastered above the open road tolling lanes started coming down on Day One of the Pat Quinn administration. They cost about a half-a-million to put up and will cost about that much to remove or cover.

www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/index.html

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The Transparency International CPI measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on different expert and business surveys. The 2008 CPI scores 180 countries (the same number as the 2007 CPI) on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to ten (highly clean).



Here's where are comparative countries rank (the higher the number the less corrupt
between 10 highly clean and 0 highly corrupt) :

16. UK -- 7.7

18. USA -- 7.3

72. Mexico -- 3.6

72. China -- 3.6

121. Nigeria -- 2.7

141. Iran -- 2.3

147. Russia -- 2.1



The full index can be found here:


click to see the CPI table and Sources

Freedom and Democracy

(From Economist.com)

FREEDOM was in retreat across the world for the third straight year in 2008, according to an annual report published on Monday January 12th by Freedom House, an American think-tank. The report rates the freedom of each country according to measures of political rights and civil liberties. Freedom was curtailed in 34 countries, perhaps most notably in Afghanistan, where continued war and repression has pushed it from “partly free” to “not free”. A dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa also saw some erosion of freedom. The number of electoral democracies, which has remained largely stable since the mid-1990s, fell by two to 119.

Dollar making a Big Mac Attack

How currencies compare with the dollar
(From:Economist.com)

THE dollar's recent revival has made fewer currencies look dear against the Big Mac index, our lighthearted guide to exchange rates. The index is based on the idea of purchasing-power parity, which says currencies should trade at the rate that makes the price of goods the same in each country. So if the price of a Big Mac translated into dollars is above $3.54, its cost in America, the currency is dear; if it is below that benchmark, it is cheap. There are three noteworthy shifts since the summer. The yen, which had looked very cheap, is now close to fair value. So is the pound, which had looked dear the last time we compared burger prices in July. The euro is still overvalued on the burger gauge, but far less so than last summer.

Executive Orders and Gitmo

Here is the signing of the closing of Gitmo one year from today. The video is interesting as Obama clearly has not read the executive order (what president really does) and even asks his counsel about another forthcoming one.

An executive order in the United States is a directive issued by the President, the head of the executive branch of the federal government. In other countries, similar edicts may be known as decrees, or orders-in-council. Executive orders may also be issued at the state level by a state's Governor. U.S. Presidents have issued executive orders since 1789, usually to help direct the operation of executive officers. Some orders do have the force of law when made in pursuance of certain Acts of Congress, when those acts give the President discretionary powers.

Sensitive authoritarians

As we begin our discussion of comparative systems, we contrast between liberal or industrial democracies that value civil liberties and illiberal democracies that may hold free competitive elections, but as far as rights, like freedom of the press -- not so much.

And then there is China. Maybe economically free to business, and able to host the world in a glorious-looking Olympic Games, but the authoritarian regime still rules. Autocratic capitalism, while the Communist Party retains absolute political power.

So while Americans heard words of change in their democracy in President Obama's inaugural speech, the more things stay the same in the People's Republic of China.

The BBC report includes a link to a video of the Chinese television broadcast of Obama's inaugural speech.

Obama speech censored in China

"China has censored parts of the new US president's inauguration speech that have appeared on a number of websites.

"Live footage of the event on state television also cut away from Barack Obama when communism was mentioned...

"In his inauguration address, President Obama said: "Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions."

That entire passage was retained for an English-language version of the speech that appeared on the website of state-run Xinhua news agency.

"But in the Chinese-language version, the word 'communism' was taken out.

"President Obama's comments addressed to world leaders who 'blame their society's ills on the West' also fell foul of the censor's red pen.

"'To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history,' the president said.

"Once again, Xinhua included the passage in full in its English version, but the sentence was taken out of the Chinese translation...

"And websites were not the only media organisations that struggled to report some of the comments made by President Obama.

"China Central Television, the country's main broadcaster, aired the speech live with a simultaneous Chinese translation.

"But when the translator got to the part where President Obama talked about facing down communism, her voice suddenly faded away.

"The programme suddenly cut back to the studio, where an off-guard presenter had to quickly ask a guest a question..."

Pomp and Ceremony Over There

On the first day of the new Parliamentary session, the Queen travels from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster to deliver a speech before a Joint Session of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The speech is written by her government, and outlines its priorities for the coming year.

Queen Elizabeth II gave her address to open Parliament on Dec. 3. Here is the speech she gave as Head of State. Coverage provided courtesy of the BBC.

The Queen has said the economy will be the government's 'overriding priority' for the year ahead. Compare other themes and delivery with Obama's Inaugural Speech

//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7762675.stm

With more than 500 years of history the State Opening is the most colourful and ceremonial occasion in the parliamentary year.

The Queen's Speech marks the start of a new session at Westminster, but what is the political significance of all that pomp and ceremony?

The BBC's Ben Wright was given exclusive access throughout the Houses of Parliament to explain what it means:

• Behind the scenes at Queen's Speech(04.15)