Check out page 63 of the 78 page complaint (pdf)against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagovich where the Governor and aides and consultants are discussing whether to appoint Obama's preference, referred to as Senate Candidate 1, for his senate replacement:

ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherf*cker [the President-elect] his senator. F*ck him. For nothing? F*ck him.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH states that he will put “[Senate Candidate 4]” in the Senate “before I just give f*cking [Senate Candidate 1] a f*cking Senate seat and I don’t get anything.” (Senate Candidate 4 is a Deputy Governor of the State of Illinois).

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U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI Agent Robert Grant are giving a press conference on CNN about the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Fitz reminds me more and more of Eliot Ness.

Fitz says "there's politics and there's crime" and sometimes people "blur the lines."

There were others involved. FBI Agent Grant said he called the Governor at 6:00 am and told him there was a warrant for his arrest and the FBI was outside. He asked him to come quietly. The Governor said, "Is this a joke?" and Grant said "No." He went quietly, was handcuffed, and as he was leaving, his wife and kids were "beginning to stir."

The press release is here (pdf) and the 78 page complaint is here (pdf.) In addition to wiretaps, including one on Blagojevich's home phone, Blagojevich's personal office and a conference room were bugged.

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Incredible:

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois was arrested by federal authorities on Tuesday morning and charged with corruption, including an allegation that he conspired to profit from his authority to appoint President-elect Barack Obama’s successor in the United States Senate, prosecutors said.

Blago has basically been surrounded by allegations and rumors of ongoing investigations and he does THAT? I know I should be stunned by the corruption. But I am more stunned by the sheer stupidity.

Speaking for me only

In the Times today, Nick Taylor argues for the New Deal PWA, Harry Hopkins led model:

THE plan by Barack Obama to attack unemployment by putting people to work on roads, bridges, schools and new energy projects sounds like a version of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration. If Franklin D. Roosevelt is Mr. Obama’s model, and if the president-elect wants to avoid the disorganized hodgepodge that the financial bailout seems to be so far, then he should look to the structure created for the W.P.A. in 1935 to select the best plans for renovating the country’s outdated infrastructure.

It's an interesting take but not entirely uncontroversial historically. For example, the feud between Harold Ickes, Sr. and Hopkins may have been personal, but it was framed on the basis of policy differences. Here is a a discussion of some of them. It would be interesting to hear more from economists and historians on the relative merits of the Hopkins' WPA and the Ickes' PWA.

Speaking for me only

As someone who was criticized for railing against the idea of John Brennan as a potential head of the CIA (I also find the idea of Michael Hayden as DNI intolerable), I do find it ironic that by and large, I am quite comfortable, pleased even, with the makeup of the incoming Obama Administration. At the same time, I am someone who has always urged people to speak their mind - to wit, if you are not pleased with the makeup of the incoming Obama Administration, it seems to me you should say so. In a NYTimes article on the subject, Markos Moulitsas is quoted as saying:

New York Congressman Vito Fossella was sentenced to five days in jail today for a D.U.I, conviction.

Fossella was arrested after running a red light on May 1 in a Virginia suburb of Washington, and convicted of drunken driving in October. Under Virginia law, a driver who registers a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or higher must serve five days behind bars. Police say Fossella's blood alcohol content was 0.17.

Fossella's lawyers tried to convince the judge that the breath-test machine used on Fossella was faulty, but the judge didn't buy it.

Fossella's lawyers have already filed a notice of appeal. If successful, they will seek a jury trial next time around.

28 years ago tonight, in the middle of Monday Night Football, Howard Cosell announced there had been an "unspeakable tragedy in New York City." John Lennon had been shot. (Video here.)

This is my sixth annual blog post about that night, and how for me, it's a day of both sadness and celebration. [More...]

I've been out of commission all day. Anything exciting happen?

This is an Open Thread.

So you think the new President will end our involvement in foreign wars? I never did, I just thought he'd trade one war for another, Iraq for Afghanistan.

It seems like this will be the case. The AP reports our Marines will be moving from Iraq to Afghanistan:

The top U.S. Marine general says there is a growing consensus among defense leaders to send a substantial contingent of Marines to Afghanistan, probably beginning next spring, while dramatically reducing their deployments to western Iraq.

Get ready for the narco-terror war. When they don't capture terrorists in Afghanistan, they'll bust the drug wholesalers and transporters and say they got terrorists.

No change here, other than one of geography. Whatever happened to "Bring the Troops Home?" Guess that went out of fashion after Vietnam.

The FBI is publishing the top ten stories of the week. Here's the list for the week ending Dec. 5.

Of the ten stories, five pertain to crimes by allegedly crooked cops and politicians; two to white collar bigshots; one to a little white collar guy; and one to a crime by a former government employee.

There's no murders, no big drug dealers or gun offenders other than cops, no child p*rn, cybercrimes or terrorism (other than a reference to the resentencing of a terror suspect for a crime committed years ago.)

There's a message here, I'm just not sure what it is. [More...]

Update: DOJ announcement here. A sixth defendant, Jeremy Ridgeway pleaded guilty to these charges (pdf) brought by Information rather than Indictment. The factual basis for his plea is here (pdf).

Five Blackwater guards charged in federal court in Washington with manslaughter and use of a machine gun a crime of violence -- the killing of Iraqis -- surrendered today in Utah.

Seventeen Iraqis were killed in the September 2007 shooting. Witnesses said the heavily armed U.S. contractors opened fire unprovoked, killing innocent motorists and children at a crowded intersection. Blackwater, the largest security contractor in Iraq, says its guards were ambushed by insurgents while responding to a car bombing.

Why Utah? For one thing, Paul Cassell, who lives in Utah is on the defense team. [More...]

Update: AP article here. They made their decision based on Obama's election to the Presidency. My translation: They don't want to be moved to federal court where they would be more likely to get life in a Supermax prison than the death penalty, and if they got the death penalty, face years in prison before it was carried out.

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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees facing the death penalty in military commission trials decided today to plead guilty. Human Rights Watch responds:

"What should have been a major victory in holding the 9/11 defendants accountable for terrible crimes has been tainted by torture and an unfair military commissions process," said Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. "These five men are known to have been mistreated and tortured during their years in CIA custody, including the acknowledged waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed."

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