It Ain't Just A River In Egypt

Illinois governor (for the time being) Rod Blagojevich still insists he has done absolutely nothing wrong.

Of course, since Illinois always has been at the top of the corruption hit parade, maybe Blago just can't tell the difference any more.

I was born and raised in Chicago. There is absolutely no way anyone can become a major-league politician in Illinois without buying his/her way into the machine. And everything else is tied up in the mess as well.

When I was growing up, my father worked as an accountant at the main post office. I remember the arguments at home over his refusal to pay off the appropriate politicians in order to get a promotion or raise. That was the only way you could advance in those days.

Much later, a friend worked at the Lincoln Park Zoo. All the upper-level positions there were also political gimme jobs. She told me about a new manager with no animal-behavior qualifications at all who ordered all the toys be taken away from the baby apes in the zoo nursery. According to him, they were animals, not children, and didn't need anything to amuse themselves.

Apes being highly creative, though, they solved their boredom problem by fingerpainting every reachable surface. With, ahem, natural materials.

My friend said Mr. Expert should have been required to clean up the mess himself. With a toothbrush. Preferably his.

So how can people believe that Barack Obama is the only non-corrupt politician to ever come out of that cesspool?

What are the odds?