Illinois State Song

I hear ya there Aleighanne. My husband was in the Navy at one time and traveled all over the world, and he said the one thing he missed most when he was away from central Illinois were the sunsets. Of late we have also been getting a lot of really photogenic thunderstorms, lightning and tornadoes (unfortunately some have been destructive).

As bad as Blago was, believe it or not, he was NOT the worst or crookedest governor ever, and he was not the first to be arrested while in office. That dubious distinction belongs to Len Small, a Republican from Kankakee, who was governor during the 1920s, was a good friend of Al Capone and the Ku Klux Klan (then at the height of its political power), pardoned or commuted prison sentences for hundreds of Capone mobsters, and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state and its taxpayers.

I encourage all Illinois political and/or history junkies to get their hands on a copy of “Len Small: Governors and Gangsters” by Jim Ridings, available through Amazon. After reading it, you realize that as bad as things are now, they have been, and could be, a whole lot worse.

Speaking of lame-duck Senators, the 7th Circuit (federal) appeals court ruled a couple of days ago that Illinois should have had a special election to fill Obama’s former Senate seat. Moreover, the judges state that there is still time to rectify this omission with a special election — even though at this late date it would have to coincide with the Nov. 2 general election, and the person elected (if it’s someone not already on the general election ballot) would only serve for a few weeks, if that long!

If Sufjan Stevens intends to record an album in honor of each of the 50 states, he’s got a ways to go yet