Blood in the Water, National Sharks Circling. 
News arrives form Chicago that the national media has staked out Rahm Emanuel's Chicago address and that he is refusing to go to work to the Obama Transition offices. The quote of the
day so far from an ABC cameraman who managed to convince Rahm Emanuel to let him use the bathroom inside the house is so choice and bizarre that it exhausts the imagination. He is quoted as saying, "I'm getting regular death threats..." It is important to see how ABC online writes this up:
Emanuel appeared "beet-red," according to an ABC News cameraman who was invited inside by Emmanuel to use his bathroom this morning.
"I'm getting regular death threats. You've put my home address on national television. I'm pissed at the networks. You've intruded too much, " Emanuel said, according to the cameraman.
Death threats to the President-Elect's Chief of Staff who is also still the member of Congress from the 5th CD if Illinois? Another pause to stop pausing. Perhaps the Secret Service now gets involved? Why a death threat? What has Rahm Emanuel done to achieve this notoriety? All that has happened recently is that the governor and his now resigned chief of staff have been identified by the US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as corrupt fools with big phone bills and even bigger unpaid attorney fees. Then there is the matter that Rahm Emanuel refused to answer logical questions from a Chicago Sun-Times reporter yesterday as to whether or not he is the "Obama advisor" mentioned in the Blago recordings? Does this lead to death threats? And why the "beet-red" face mention? Does this mean that Rahm Emanuel is angry, or embarrassed, or sun-tanning indoors? And what about the national media outside his house? What does he expect when he refuses to go to work and answer questions? What does the President-Elect have to say about this strange scene -- a Chicago congressman and major figure in the Obama transition now a prisoner in his own house? Even Blago goes to work through the media stake out? Two media stakeouts in the same city?
John Harris Mole?
Meanwhile news arrives of more strange behavior among the players when Blago's chief of staff John Harris, who was targeted with the governor by Mr. Fitzgerald's complaint has
now resigned from the state employment. Why? One guess is that Harris has followed the advice of his counsel to get away from Blago and start negotiating with with the Feds for his own fate. Another is that Harris is more than he appears, and that he may be a mole that the Feds turned sometime ago. Eye on Harris to see if he makes a deal that looks lenient and generous. Eye on Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan (above) (the new favorite for the Senate seat in the event of Lt. Governor Pat Quinn ascending to the governorship and appinting her or in the eent of a special election) to see if her petition to have the Illinois Court remove Blago contains any detail that could only be proivided by John Harris.
Jesse Jackson Junior, Another Chicago Congressman in Denial.
News also arrives that Jesse Jackson Junior's brother Jonathan Jackson attended a fundraiser by prominent Chicago donors, chiefly Indian-American burghers, on October 31,
where there was mention of raising money for Blago and also in supporting JJJ for the Obama Senate seat after the election. This report in the Trib complicates JJJ's denial of anything to do with the Blago remarks about a million or a half million dollars for appointing Candidate 5 to the seat. JJJ can claim he doesn't know what his brother Jonathan Jackson is up to, but it is not a sturdy claim, and it will not survive scrutiny when and if Mr. Jackson goes to the public and the media again. Mr. Jackson's wife the alderman Mrs. Jackson spoke to the TV within the last news cycle that this scandal is a blow to the family and to JJJ. That was before the revelation about the fundraiser, the Indian ethnic burghers, the Jackson boom, and the clear invitation to connect dots. Now Mr. Jackson is speaking (right) but no clarity has emerged from the tangled Jackson/Obama team/Blago donor web. Did JJJ speak to Rahm Emanuel? Did Rahm Emanuel speak to John Harris? Did John Harris speak to Jonathan Jackson? The questions lead to questions. Back to the stake out at Rahm Emanuel's.
Treebeard Fitzgerald and his Ents smashing Saruman's Orcs and dousing the flame of the Machine at Isengard.
"He was very quiet to begin with, but his fame began to grow. He was chosen to be head of the White Council, they say; but that did not turn out too well. I wonder now if even then Saruman was not turning to evil ways. But at any rate he used to give no trouble to his neighbours. I used to talk to him. There was a time when he was always walking about my woods. He was polite in those days, always asking my leave (at least when he met me); and always eager to listen. I told him many things that he would never have found out by himself; but he never repaid me in like kind. I cannot remember that he ever told me anything. And he got more and more like that; his face, as I remember it-I have not seen it for many a day-became like windows in a stone wall: windows with shutters inside."
It's all happening now, fast and furious, like the in the closing moments of a Kabuki play - trap doors opening and closing; players appearing and disappearing; decibels rising - leaving the audience stunned and gasping for air (at least those who might still be watching). It all adds up to a giant embarrassment for the incoming Obama administration.
It represents the first test of Obama's ability to take charge of actual events. Up until now he's been able to charm us by merely bloviating and tossing platitudes like rose petals at an Indian funeral procession.
Already cracks are appearing in the fabled Doric columns of his triumphant campaign. It makes us wonder if the man will even make it his own coronation much less steer the nation safely through the shoals of international gamesmanship.
Pardon me for tossing a bit of water on the witch here, but isn't Obama the one person who is immune from this whole thing? It's his own seat that was up for sale. He's the one person who wouldn't want that seat, or want to pay money for it, because he has no use for it any more. He might try and get an "exit profit" but that would be really stupid considering how much he'd be risking for an extra hundred large or two, which is now small potatoes to him.
late update: a non denial denial.
Sources: Emanuel not target of Illinois probe
By NEDRA PICKLER and LARA JAKES JORDAN – 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — People who have been briefed on the Illinois governor corruption investigation say Barack Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is not a target of the probe.
Emanuel, a Chicago congressman who would have been a likely contact between the Obama transition office and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, has been a focus of media attention since Obama said Thursday he has asked for an internal review of contacts between his staff and Blagojevich.
Emanuel has been refusing to answer questions about whether he's the "president-elect adviser" referred to in the criminal complaint that accuses Blagojevich of putting Obama's Senate seat up for sale. The complaint does not say that Blagojevich ever spoke to the unidentified Obama adviser about the Senate seat
"The first three reports are always wrong." Is this number two or three ...or four...?
Unbelievable!
See, this is what happens when you have young pups running large scams for, and on, a public that only cares about timely garbage collection and snow removal. The youngsters get impatient, greedy, and arrogant, lulled by the self-absorbed indifference of the audience to which they play. For a really long-lived and incredibly successful scam, you need to be an eighty-year-old grifter like Madoff, or have the patience of an eighty year old.
Why are we holding onto the idea of representative democracy? Is it the need to put a face on it? Would it be possible to end the election of individuals on some level, and instead vote on most matters directly through the internet? Now, I recognize the need for specialists who can make decisions in real time concerning security, reacting to markets, public health etc, but why should we clog our representative's desks with micromanagemental chores? Why should they spend any time declaring new holidays (check out their websites- it's pretty much all they do.) And why shouldn't my income tax form ask me how I want the money spent? Reminds me of a bumpersticker I saw in Austin- why do we have to have bakesales to buy our children school books- and why shouldn't they have to have bakesales to buy their bombs? Is it because- we don't trust ourselves(or each other) to make decisions?? Are we seeking to wash our hands of it the moment we vote for a proxy rather than an issue? Strange considering chicago right now. Could we have absolute transparency?- Could we have real-time, live, online balance sheets- you could watch every penny go in and out, to whom, for what, as it happens. Why shouldn't the govt be surveilled? Shouldn't we be suspicious of anyone who thinks secrecy is the only policy?I know this would make some people antsy, since the only way some people know how to climb the ladder is by knowing when and what information to release, but the govt isn't a sandbox. It's not a place to play games- and it shouldn't be a place to earn, well, make $.
senator - Well said, but you are assuming a lot - too much, I think. You are assuming an educated electorate. Given the state of our educational system today, this is way too much to expect. You are also assuming an impartial press corps. And most of all (though you've hinted at an awareness of it) you're ignoring the American peoples' reluctance to take a decisive stand on any matter. I'm sure you've heard it before, "People get the government they deserve." We continue to live in fear and loathing of the government we deserve.
if we expect an uneducated public that is what we'll get. When you are young you learn fire is hot, that broken glass is sharp. Everybody has a right to privacy- you have a right not to vote- but to the degree you opt out of democracy, you lose the right to expect any rewards. I'm just trying to say that representative democracy is a way to opt out. As far as an impartial press, I believe we should have one or two tv and radio stations set aside for civic news- this could be used for information about say, FIMA if your town is caught in a hurricane or wildfire- you could have news on the radio explaining in plain english your new healthcare plan- the stations could host debates for all public offices and should in fact be the only venues. Obviously the media should not decide who gets to participate in debates. Anyone who has enough votes to get on a ballot in a given state should be allowed to participate.
"The Fifth CD thing" appears to be a Pay-Back concept reference by BLAGO in an attempt to remind Emanuel of what he did for him when he dropped out of the race for the 2002 seat in the United States House of Representatives from Illinois’ Fifth Congressional District, and allowed Emanuel to have the seat. The Fifth CD is a way of Blago telling Emanuel "indirectly" that he owes him from that event. "The Fifth CD" is virtually a Blago political corruption admission of guilt of handing that House seat to Emanual back in 2002 and now he expects a kick-back payment with regard to Obama paying him 10 - 15 million to grant Obama's Senate seat to Valerie Jarrett [Senate Candidate 1]. "When [he asks me for the Fifth CD thing], I want "IT" to be in his head," said Blago.
So what is "IT"? "IT", appears to be a 10 - 15 million dollar donation by Obama to Blago's fake 501(c)(4),which Blago wants to set-up and personally run and receive a $200 - $300,000 annual salary from.
This had to do with creating a "Blago Retirement Plan/ Golden Parachute", which allowed Blago to retire or be impeached and still survive to grow old and later sell all the books he would write on how he abused the system...
"and that when “he asks me for the Fifth CD thing""?
Why would Emanuel ask about the Fifth CD thing? Emanuel undoubtedly has some kind of deal in the works regarding his Fifth Congressional District seat and since Blago and him are constantly making Pay/Play deals regarding that seat, like back in 2002, Blago appears to desire to let Emanuel know that he will Play along with what Emanuel is up to, as long as he Pays, as in 10 - 15 million Obama donation...