Parents traded sex with daughter for minivan 1
Dad raped 5 daughters, had 6 kids with them 2
Mom drives kids to revenge beating 3
By Steve Huff
Tuesday, Dec. 9 2008 @ 3:31PM


An MSNBC segment about the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. (D-IL)

Well, this is fun. Early this morning the Feds arrested llinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich, say the Feds, was basically trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Well, that's not all he was doing, but it's probably the cherry on top of Blagojevich's alleged corruption sundae. The FBI caught the governor through wiretaps.

Anyone old enough to have been annoyed that the Watergate hearings were pre-empting their cartoons feels a twinge of deja vu when stories like this hit the airwaves. I come from Tennessee, myself, and after Watergate my home state still had to contend with our own uber-crooked gov, one Ray Blanton. For me, the Blagojeviches and the Blantons actually make politics interesting.

But this is a crime blog. And even though Rod Blagojevich has been arrested and charged with all kinds of juicy criminal corruption, the story is still more political than anything. Your best bet for finding out the nuts and bolts of this sordid tale so far is to follow these links:

* The USDOJ's release about the arrest of the governor and his Chief of Staff, John Harris.

* And of course, The Smoking Gun has more than 20 pages of uncensored criminal complaint goodness. One of the many money quotes -- Blagojevich, referring to Obama's empty Senate seat and his ability to appoint someone to fill it: "I've got this thing and it's fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for fuckin' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there." Perhaps you see what I mean about the guy being a tool as well. As if his hair wasn't enough of a giveaway.

If you're looking for some irony (or something like it) related to this story, look no further than this announcement at Illinois.gov. Quote: "CHICAGO - First Lady Patricia Blagojevich today announced December's selection for her Children's Reading Club - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss."