Blagojevich removed!! Blagojevich removed!!

Today, Thursday, January 29, 2009, Governor Rod. R. Blagojevich was removed from office around 4:45.  This should not come as a surprise to anyone considering if the Illinois HOR wasn't going to remove him from office they would not have passed the vote.  Another thing to add, he is unable to run for any other public office in the state of Illinois.  The vote was 59-0 for both of these things; I find it to be rather sad that no one believed in the governor or voted for him to remain in office.  That shows the intent of the senate to convict the, now former, governor.  This was a very historic conviction due to the fact that no other Illinois governor has been impeached and removed from office.  He was the "FIRST EVER" to quote Mr. O'Connor to be removed from the office of Governor.  Blagojevich never attended the trial nor did he put up a defense against the charges.  He merely showed up today to give a "pity speech" as I put it to, in a way, plead his case.  I think that this is a great day and the turn of a new era in the Illinois government.  The one thing, I believe, is crucial to turn this government around is that we need to believe that the new governor, Pat Quinn, can change the government and earn our trust.  We also need to give him time; do not expect for him to be able to change the government in a day.  The same trust that we are putting in President Obama, we must give to the new governor.  The phrase, "Rome wasn't built in a day" certainly applies here.  Any opinions?

Being a Part of History

Tomorrow, January 20th, 2009, President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn into office as the 44th president of the United States of America and the first African-American president.  I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a part of history, by be able to attend a reception held at a law firm in along the Parade route.  I am extremely excited to be a part of history and I know that there are many people who are extremely jealous of my opportunity.  I am going to be a part of history.  That absolutely astounds me!!  Everyone that I have talked to has told me to take lots of pictures but I recently read about all the security restrictions and I am shocked by it all.  The restrictions include no bag larger than 8"x6", only certain size camera's are allowed, and the list goes on and on.  I am thinking that the history in the making will not only include swearing in the first African-American president, but probably the most people attending the inauguration, and possibly the most security restrictions too.  I will write more about history later, after it happens.

"I'm at the starting line of the rest of my life, as ready as I've ever been."

So seeing as how we are about to enter our second semester of junior year, I felt it was necessary to talk about how close we are to being on our own.  On Friday I got my PSAT results, along with a letter about how the post high school counseling office is going to function.  I read the letter and I was shocked to learn that we are honestly so close to going to college.  I mean, I know that we are juniors and what not and that it is just around the corner, but hearing about talking to your Post High School Counselor is going to start really soon, scared me!  I couldn't help but ask myself, where did the good old days of nap time and book reports go?  When did I trade those late night talking session for late night cramming sessions?  We are going into our second semester of junior year in a little bit more than a week and that means that we are closer than ever to being seniors and having to make those huge decisions about college.  At least for me, I feel extremely anxious and nervous about the entire process.  I don't know if it is just me feeling that way or if others are too but I feel like it sort of snuck up on us.  To think about the fact that in a little over a year, we will be about a semester away from GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL is very intimidating.  So I found myself listening to this song called, "Ready, Set, Don't go" by Billy Ray Cyrus.  A lyric caught my eye, "I'm at the starting line of the rest of my life, as ready as I've ever been."  To me, that line sums up completely where we are in our lives.  We must now begin making all these decisions and thinking about the rest of our lives.  And I do feel that I am as ready as I have ever been to make those decisions, just because of the amazing progress in school that I have made and with everything.  I am nervous but I am excited too!  Because I believe, that even though it is very close to happening, we are ready to begin the rest of our lives.  And I know that if I fall and need help, my parents will be there for me.  Anyone else feeling the anxiety of graduation and what not?

Mr. Burris goes to Washington

After talking about "Tokenism" on dramas on TV during class, I became more critical of tokenism in real life.  My parents brought up tokenism in the Senate, mostly surrounding the appointment of Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama's senate seat.  Today was the day that all the newly elected officials in the Senate were set to be sworn in.  Roland Burris was expected to be one of them; he was not sworn in because Jesse White, the secretary of state in Illinois, has not signed off on his appointment.  At least that is the reason that the Senate is claiming for not swearing him in.  But my dad asked if the Senate should swear him in just because he is african american?  I do not believe that they should make their decision based off his race and whether or not he is a minority.  Blagojevich, however, did make Burris a token in the Senate.  He replaced an african american with another african american just because of the race.  He made the decision based off the fact that Burris was african american and no based off the fact that he may have been qualified.  That is my honest opinion of what he did and why he did it.  I do not disagree that he should appoint someone, but the fact that one of the reasons he chose Burris is because he is african american just disgusts me.  I would have thought that in the government, there was not tokenism, or at least hoped but I am wrong.  And I can't believe that it is not only in TV show, but it is also in the US government.  What do you think?  Do you think that Blagojevich did this to make Burris a token?  Do you think that he did it because Burris is African American?

NEW SENATOR APPOINTED!!

On December 30, 2008, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich nominated Roland Burris to replace President Elect Barack Obama in the US senate.  This came after many pleas from the Illinois senate for the governor to not appoint a replacement right now due to all the scandal surrounding him.  The governor did not listen, which I believe is a complete mistake.  I think that he is not in any position to appoint someone to a seat that he has been accused of trying to sell.  I do not disagree with his choice, I merely think that it wasn't the best time for him to appoint someone.  On the other hand, I believe that he wanted for someone to fill the seat and to prove that he is capable of doing something right.  I am still not in agreement with his appointing someone to the seat at this point in time.  The senate is attempting to find some way for Burris to not be appointed to the seat that has been vacated by the president elect, however it appears that those ideas are slim.  There is one thing that may help to prevent his appointment, the fact that the Secretary of State must sign off on the appointment and currently Jesse White, the Illinois Secretary of State, has not done that.  That doesn't really mean anything right now, but it could some day.  What do you think of the appointment?