Technically, over a million folks have clicked a button that says they support the olympic effort. When the city comes back to them and informs them that their support is going to cost 10s-100s of millions of dollars in tax increases, we'll see where their loyalty is.
It isn't even about turning a profit, it's about not getting financially run over. One of the biggest pro-Olympic arguments from the beginning was the attention it would bring to Chicago, and the post-Games tourism dollars. Right? There's the profit angle. We don't need a Games to bolster our revenue stream. Chicago is a world class city. You live there, and you know that every summer places are full with tourists. Hotel rooms become scarce, parking nil, restaurants and museums full. We hardly need the expense and hassles of an Olympic Games to fill that card. Plus, they would inevitably scatter the venues around the Chicagoland area--apparently Wisconsin is being considered--and I guarantee Chicago will get the bill for those as well.
Nope; you don't really believe your assertion......do you?? It's a wonderful Utopian Dream, but it ain't reality! You know that's not how the city, nor government works. With all due respect, The Emp
Due to tourists? Most likely due to conventioneers and trade show attendees here on a corporate reimbursement plan!
Well then please tell me how government works. Cause the above was my assumption. At any rate, I'm paying taxes to so many in my eyes useless causes (Iraq war being #1), that I'm quite happy to pay for something I strongly believe in and that actually benefits my pursuit of happiness.
The way government works, and the reason for it, is to benefit the government or, more precisely, to benefit the politicians running the government. Remember, very little of the monetary intake by the government trickles down to the common man . Instead of giving $800 billion to 'Big Business' that brought on their own demise through poor management, and exorbitant bonuses to top executives for poor performance, why not give $1M big ones to every U.S. citizen? That would definitely help our economy and encourage people to 'buy'. Plus, in the long run, it would cost us less than the proposed bailout.
Because 800 billion divided by 300 million of us comes down to 3k per person (which is not surprisingly what our "debt to generations" will be as originally announced). Aside from the math, a collapse of the financial system would have been the end of United States and the Western world as we know it.
You can't make this stuff up. Bluto, I mean Blago, compared himself to "other imprisoned leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Ghandi."
Tonight on the news the question was asked: "How do we get rid of the Chicago politics"? I know the answer......send them to Washington.
The dumb ass is on Larry King Live tonight for the whole hour. Couldn't they book some one more interesting to be on the air? Gene.
If that happens, ya-all come over to my house. The wife has a food stock pile in the basement and I can arm about 10 of us for the future chaos. For those that don't like guns, I got some long pointy things you can have.
I have been listening to the live coverage for an hour now. As of 4:53PM, Rod Blagojevich is no longer the governor of this state...
It's nice to see that the system actually worked and Blogo was taken out. Hopefully this may be leading to an end of corrupt Chicago politics. Well done IL. btw...... It was 70 and sunny in Phoenix.
Now we get to wait for the Federal indictment. The Feds had been had apparently been investigating him for for several years and then Senate appointment issue came along as an extra. This ought to be fun! Jeff downstate Illinois
Embarrassing yes, but kudos to your legislators who tossed him out unanimously. I'm confident the "Land of Lincoln" will recover with great pride. Feff
Blago only reinforced my contempt for him when he had the audacity to defend his actions by saying he didn't do anything that isn't common practice among all politicians. First of all, that's not true. Second, it's still wrong, and everyone doing something doesn't make it right. Third, as a supposed "reformer" he should have stood up against what would be described as pay to play politics as usual, not embrace it for his personal gain. He's a pathetic piece of **** and I hope he goes down hard in the Federal trial.
I suspect that the Feds have good stuff to line up against him. The length of the investigation must have found an assortment of juicy items. What do they have another month or 2 to make the formal indictment?
I was in New Orleans when all this happened and guess what? In New Orleans, they don't give a darn what happens in IL. So when I got home last night I caught Blago on the news. That guy is a mental case. He has lost it!
You missed a totally bizarre week. His media blitz in NY while his trial was going on with an empty seat just shows how detached from reality he is. As some senator said: "We're glad the freak show is over." Illinois State Motto: Where our Governors make the license plates.
This dumb *ss is not playing with a full deck, we all know this. I think the best thing for him is to have the state of Illinois government condemn him to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation and call it a day.
Oh another thing, the idiot boycotts the impeachment proceeding for the first two days and than shows up to give a speech that made no sense...
