From Obama to Blagojevich

This is a Chicago Tribune photo.

We watched the Illinois State Senate remove Rod Blagojevich from office today. Suddenly, he is no longer our governor. That's pretty historic! It amazes me how this piece of news is everywhere, not just in the U.S. but in other countries. The State has already removed all of the governor's security protection and changed the locks to his office. They're even already changing all the signs where his name is posted on the tollway. Wow! Do you suppose they might really not like him? They've even banned him from holding any other public office in this state.

My husband, Art said isn't it interesting that we were here to watch LIVE, Illinois' favorite son (not to mention Hawaii's) become President and now we've watched Mr. Blagojevich get impeached out of the governor's office. And no, I did not vote for him. Cross my heart.

It's pretty incredible! The link in all this of course, is that Rod was planning to sell President Obama's vacant senate seat and was caught on wire taps.

Now Illinois has become famous for corruption and pay for play politics. All this is not exactly super surprising because Chicago politics is already known for the corrupt "machine politics" of the first Daley. Richard Daley, the son has carried on his father's legacy and yet things seem to get done so people vote him in anyway.

I do think it's a pretty interesting time in politics. I don't follow or understand it as well as my husband but I'm certainly aware of its significance at this time.

On a more positive note, I had my lunch (3 hours) with my two friends today at Bravo! restaurant at The Glen (shopping mall) in Glenview, Illinois. Bravo! is a very beautiful place with reasonable prices. We had such a terrific time catching up with each other's lives. It's pretty incredible how much can happen in 6 months.

Tomorrow, we'll have to set up for our neighborhood party. I'm trying to calculate how many pizzas we'll need. We bought a 6 feet folding table at Costco that folds in half for storage. Very nifty for setting up a buffet table! We'll pick up a party veggie platter at Costco tomorrow and maybe a few drinks. It's a pot luck so neighbors will be bringing more drinks, desserts, salads and appetizers. This will be so much fun! Heeey! This will be like one of our Hawaii pot lucks! Yahoo!