Are we proud or what?

Big doings in the great state of Illinois this week--and what better way to draw attention to us than to have these sorts of shenanigans going on, putting us in the national news.

The most obvious is the hung jury in the Blagojevich trial. Everyone is in an uproar screaming about corruption being the cause of the jury being hung, but I disagree. The prosecutors just flat did not make their case. I deal with juries every day of my life, and the fact is, juries are predisposed to convict people. For anything but that to happen, you have to look for a good cause. I have thought all along that the feds acted too quickly on Blago, and beat themselves out of their best evidence. Now they will have to start all over again

The only reason I care is that it is a waste of money, and that is in short supply. Illinois is corrupt, always has been and always will be. Whether Blago is any worse than anyone else is still up in the air--a little stupider perhaps for running his mouth so much when he knew full well he was being taped, but arrogance is a powerful drug. It is also a common one--he just managed to get sideways of the wrong people and is being made an example of as a result. I have to admit though that I can't help but laugh at how absurd he is. I am not saying we should tolerate all this corruption, and we have to start somewhere trying to clean it up, but I think it is disingenious for everyone to act so shocked. Chicago politicians are a breed unto themselves, and we should quit acting like we are surprised when they keep it up.

The far more interesting thing to me is a little closer to home. This weekend, Tila Tequila got tore up at the Gathering of the Juggalos, held about an hour and a half from me, in the deeper hillbilly section of Illinois. The gathering is a four day event, hosted by the Insane Clown Posse and is attended by their followers, who come from all over the country to camp out and participate in all manner of debauchery. Even in the bowels of southern Illinois, Juggalos are a whole 'nother breed--and most are not from here, so it is not like we can take credit for it all ourselves (or the blame, is probably the better way to put it). I bet most people never even heard of a Juggalo until this mess happened this weekend, where she was attacked on stage by thrown bottles, feces, and other nastiness. I would not know about them either if this event was not held so close to us.

They do have some interesting entertainment that I would not mind seeing, but I am not going into the belly of the beast with those crazy, demented and some very dangerous bastards to see them. Every year there are problems--there was a stabbing this year, and I just read that Method Man was injured as well. Last year, some dude just rolled up dead from an OD. That is pretty typical Gathering behavior

It is fascinating to me that people said Tila Tequila asked for it. Excuse me? She got paid to make an appearance and despite warnings that the Juggalos were going to hurt her, she tried to do her job and trusted security to take care of her. There is no excuse for that sort of ridiculous behavior. The videos online show that she did not make this up, as many people have suggested.

These people are crazy. I cannot understand why anyone would think this is ok behavior.

How bout that for a big week in Illinois? From the governor's mansion to one of the southern-most points in the state, we had bad things happen.

I'm so proud.