Filed Under: No Joke!

 

(Headline) Blagojevich trial will spotlight worst elements of state’s political culture

Democrats fear fallout from testimony; GOP sees chance to rebuild power

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich‘s federal corruption trial will feature prosecutors feeding voters a steady reminder of the worst elements of Illinois’ political culture — allegations that money, insider influence and personal interest drive public policy in this state.

From charges of trying to shake down a children’s hospital for campaign cash to trying to peddle President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for profit, the case will once again put Illinois politics on trial.

For Democrats, the trial represents a long-feared day of reckoning after 18 months of a Blagojevich-fueled circus. The challenge is to weather months of testimony involving pay-to-play charges as the party tries to maintain its control of state government, led by Gov. Pat Quinn, who replaced Blagojevich as governor after twice serving as his running mate.

“It’s not a plus. It’s not a plus,” acknowledged House Speaker Michael Madigan, the veteran Southwest Side lawmaker who is chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/blagojevich/ct-met-blagojevich-trial-politics-20100602,0,2512076.story

Part 6: It Pays to Remember

Looking at the motivation of the players is interesting.

Most of those at the lowest level were ideologically interested in communism (small “c”) and they were naïve to an extreme. One of the liberals on a Blog referred to them as ‘flirting with Communism.”

That is pretty accurate for the rank and file. Those are the great majority of those who in the 20’s and 30’s – mostly naïve college students looking for a perfect world where everyone was equal. That large group were the lake in which the Communist Party, USA recruited.

From that large pool, the Russians in several groups recruited agents – the NKVD (KGB), the Comintern, and the GRU separately recruited those CPUSA who, in addition to their interest in economic socialism, were activists who loved the experiment going on in Russia,

These people, in addition to a love of Communism were willing to betray their own country – a major step. Espionage requires that a person reject their country, their family, their friends – their culture. That does not come easily, even for those who aspire to some perfect world.

But hundreds went from Communist sympathy, to espionage.

Willingly.

Many of those who were brought into the CPUSA camp were attracted to the impression that it was Communism vs. Fascism, and many even fought in the 30s in Spain with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The non-aggression that Stalin signed with Hitler was disillusioning to many, but others persisted with hope of a “better world” in spite of purges that killed millions of people and even hundreds of their fellow agents.

Of course by then, the agents were immersed deeply into espionage and could not quit – begun with large payments for unclassified material some were in no position to say “no” when they were faced with demands for classified material. Some who quit were murdered, so there was an incentive to keep on keeping on.  And, it was not just semi-pro spies who earned assassination – Stalin purged HUNDREDS of his professional KGB agents.

When I was in Moscow, the Guide showed us the hotel where the agents were brought before execution. The Russians, who apparently have seen our old TV advertising, called it the “Roach Motel” – if you recall the old ad it was that roaches checked in but never checked out. That happened to a lot of KGB agents!

The Oil Tax Problem

I see that the President is considering taxing the oil companies to provide a fund for cleanup.

Of course, if the Social Security “fund” has been decimated to pay for general fund expenses, how sacrosanct do you think the oil tax fund will be?

Then there is the problem of “business tax.” Everyone in business knows that businesses do not pay taxes – they are a cost of doing business and that cost is simply added to the price of the product and “passed on” to the consumer.

It is a tax on the people. Pure and simple.

BP is HOPING to keep their total cost at under $20 billion. If they can do so, they may recover to be a middle-sized corporation and even then subject to a hostile takeover because their 30% diminished stock price. Their CEO and major executives will not survive – indeed the corporation may not survive.

The cost to BP – and the “Lesson Learned” for other corporations is obvious. Every oil corporation now knows that some low-level employee in their employee can mess up and cost them their entire operation, so, insofar as is technologically possible, they will not allow mess-ups to happen.

Because of the ban on off-shore deep-water drilling by the Obama administration, gas prices will rise – and rise further if a tax on the corporation is placed on them.

So much for “not one dime” in tax rises promised by President Obama.