Reflecting on William F. Buckley

The death of William F. Buckley reminded me of this great clip from the movie "Big Man on Campus"

Can you say Judie Finkle? How about William G. Buckley?

Happy Birthday Conrad!!

Happy 1st birthday to Conrad B. You made it a whole year, even with that goofy Dad of yours. Congratulations!

Kirkwood Pommies Performance

I finally conquered my technical difficulties to get this video posted.

The Kirkwood High School Pommies squad held a clinic for girls in the Kirkwood School District. Emily and a few of her friends participated, and tonight was the big performance at the halftime of the Lindberg vs. Kirkwood girls varsity game.

(Note for you basketball fans, Kirkwood has a girl who just signed with St. Louis University - it was pretty obvious that she played on a completely different level - she was fun to watch).

Weather Chilling? Better Get Skilling!

Tom Skilling showing his gansta side...

Does George Ryan Have Room for a Cell-Mate?

It's just a matter of time...


Judge in Tony Rezko trial reveals names in alleged extortion plot

Gov. Rod Blagojevich identified as 'Public Official A'

By Jeff Coen Tribune reporter

7:02 PM CST, February 25, 2008

For months, federal prosecutors have alleged that Antoin "Tony" Rezko tried to extort a $1.5 million contribution to the campaign of "Public Official A" from a Hollywood producer seeking investment business from the state.

And for months, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has repeatedly denied he was "Public Official A."

But a week before Rezko's much-anticipated trial, a federal judge revealed that Blagojevich was to have been the recipient of the $1.5 million campaign contribution at the center of the alleged extortion plot.

Prosecutors haven't alleged any wrongdoing against Blagojevich. Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff did not directly address the judge's use of the governor's name in her ruling. But Ottenhoff dismissed the suggestion that Blagojevich had any involvement in the alleged incident.

In the nine-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve also disclosed allegations by prosecutors that Illinois Republican heavyweight Robert Kjellander diverted much of a controversial $809,000 fee for a state bond deal to a close Rezko associate. She barred that evidence.

Kjellander acknowledged he made a $600,000 loan to the Rezko associate whom Kjellander called an acquaintance. "I did nothing improper, and I don't believe anyone is accusing me of anything improper in making that loan," Kjellander said.

In another ruling, the judge allowed testimony at trial about an allegation that Rezko offered the relative of a politically connected developer a post on the state's banking board in exchange for a $25,000 donation to Blagojevich's campaign fund.

Rezko, a former adviser and fundraiser for Blagojevich, is set to go on trial on March 3 on charges he extorted firms seeking to do business with the state.

Later Monday, a federal appeals court in Chicago sided with prosecutors that Rezko should remain jailed pending trial.

A three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed St. Eve's decision late last month to hold Rezko at a federal Loop jail after prosecutors raised questions about a $3.5 million overseas payment he kept quiet from authorities."

Perhaps all of these transactions are innocent, but district judges must act when the risks of flight change materially and a plan of concealment could well make life as a fugitive tolerable for the defendant," the appeals court wrote Monday.

Trip to Springfield

We had a fun trip to Springfield this weekend. I wanted to check on the house and we had some Girl Scout Cookies to deliver. We met the McKeowns and the Turners for dinner on Saturday and met our friend Mary for lunch on Sunday, followed by a trip to the stable to see her horses.

Imagine our surprise to see Robert's snow shark sculpture in the driveway of our house. We were wondering if the soon-to-be owners drove by and wondered what was going on.

Emily fell asleep in the car on the way home (very rare these days) and Adam kept asking if we were going back to Janet's house. I finally started telling him we were so that he would keep quiet. He finally fell asleep about a mile from home, and boy was he MAD when he woke up in our driveway to find out that he didn't get to go to Janet's house.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Happy Birthday to our nephew/cousin Charlie - the big 06!!

Sleet

We received about 2-3 inches of sleet today. The forecast was for snow or ice, but we ended up right in the middle. As you can see from the picture, the ground was covered with perfect little frozen raindrops, which Emily found very interesting.

We closed our offices at noon today, which was nice because I got to see the kids for a bit longer than on a typical night. But, neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow can stop the Girl Scout Cookies from being delivered. Emily and I just returned from picking up box after box of cookies.

Eclipse Blogging

I braved the cold tonight and got a few pictures of the lunar eclipse. I'm not sure of the exact settings to use on my camera, but these are decent.

Under Contract

Our house in Springfield is finally under contract after 7+ months on the market. The market didn't produce the price we were hoping for, but given the current housing market, we can't complain too much. If nothing else we can stop paying double for mortgage, property tax, utilities, lawn care, etc.

This contract is bitter-sweet. On one hand, we are happy to sell the house and hope that the new family (I understand they have several children) will enjoy this house as much as we did. On the other hand, we're sad to see the formal end to our physical presence in Springfield.

As Amy says, the house on Brownell is where we live. This house in Springfield was our home.

Trip to the Zoo

It was a bit cold today, but we decided to take a trip to the Zoo. It was great - very few people were there, and the weather didn't feel nearly as cold as it was. We spent time in the indoor exhibits - the Children's Zoo (favorites were the owl, possum, and guinea pigs), the bug house (favorites were the bird-eating spider and the bees), the reptile house (favorites were the snakes and turtles), and the monkey house (favorites were the lemurs). We then grabbed some lunch, said hi to the polar bears, and headed home.

In other news, we've been trying to negotiate a contract on our home in Springfield today. At this point we're in a contractual stare-down, only separated by a few thousand dollars. Hopefully it will work out so that we can unload the place. It remains our favorite house, but the double tax, insurance, and utility payments are getting old, and I don't really want to deal with maintenance on it this summer.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Happy 14th Birthday Jessica!

Perhaps a more recent picture would be appropriate, but these made us smile! Happy Birthday Jessica! We hope you have a great day!

Bad Bloggers

It seems like being labeled as a bad blogger has struck home for a lot of people, and I've received quite a bit of whining e-mail. For as much complaining as I've received, it has generated the anticipated response - new posts from many of you.

The main reason I did it was because I was getting tired of wasting my time by clicking over to your blogs every other day. I've installed a solution - I now get a notification now each time you have a new post. So, if you want to continue to be a poor blogger, go for it. I have removed the labels. Waaaahhhh!

Things That Actually Matter

We went downtown Kirkwood last night to see the memorial growing at City Hall, and to see the luminary display that enveloped the city last night.

At the same time, we learned of the 7 senseless killings at NIU in DeKalb.

Reminds you how goofy the entire sports culture and debate is (see previous posts).

Kirkwood comes out of the dark

By Angie Leventis

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Friday, Feb. 15 2008 The people of Kirkwood lined their streets with hundreds of candles Thurday evening, lighting the city in a display of unity one week after a disgruntled resident's deadly City Hall rampage.

The flickering flames of candles, many in paper bags weighted down with sand, lit virtually every block in memory of those killed or injured in the last week.

"I've never seen anything like this before," said Anne Brennan, who placed candles along the sidewalk of her own block with her husband, Tom.

They only wish Mayor Mike Swoboda, who remains in critical condition after he was shot in the head, were able to watch his city come together with such respect and compassion.

"He would have absolutely loved seeing this," Tom Brennan said.

Kirkwood resident Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton shot and killed two police officers, two City Council members and the public works director during a council meeting on Feb. 7. Police then shot and killed Thornton.

The idea of the candles, a sort of citywide vigil, started with about 150 businesses. Then residents heard about the memorial and they started illuminating their own sidewalks.

Downtown Kirkwood was a whir of pedestrian and vehicle traffic Thursday evening. Couples walked hand-in-hand to Valentine's Day dinners past the flickering candles. Groups of kids returned home from pizza places and coffee shops. Some residents said the atmosphere was starting to return to normal.

Fifteen-year-old Emily Coates captured the candle-lined sidewalks on a video recorder. She had also recorded the helicopters flying over Kirkwood the night of the shooting, and other community vigils.

"It's kind of like they're healing us," she said.

To resident Donna McCarthy, the candles also symbolized healing, as the city moves past the outbreak of violence. Thornton's funeral was held Thursday; the last of his victims' funerals was held on Wednesday.

"(The candles) show that we'll pull through this and help persevere together," McCarthy said, as she placed her change in a restaurant donation box for victims of the shooting.

"They need to know that their memory will always be with us," she said. "Kirkwood is like no other city."

We are IU

We are Indiana.

We are not Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Minnesota, or Ohio State. We do not tolerate NCAA violations. We do not cover things up. We do not pretend they never happened. We take action.

Time for Kelvin Sampson and Rick Greenspan to go. It's time to reclaim the good name that is Indiana basketball.

Go Big Red.

Illinois Statement on Fan Behavior

Illinois Statement on Fan Behavior
From Illinois Director of Athletics Ron Guenther and Basketball Coach Bruce Weber

Feb. 8, 2008
Champaign, Ill. - "There was a great college basketball game played Thursday night between the University of Illinois and Indiana University, but the game has been somewhat diminished by inappropriate behavior by a number of fans in attendance. We value the enthusiastic support of the sellout crowds at the Assembly Hall, but above all we take very seriously the reputation of our basketball program and the University of Illinois. The profanity and behavior by a small segment of fans Thursday night is disappointing and intolerable, and for that we apologize to fans of both teams."

Indiana 83 - Illinois 79 (2OT)

The University of Illinois - the Jerry Springer Show of the Big Ten Conference

(apologies to some very important people to us - Joe, Lucie, Brian, and the Chief, but that's what it has degraded to).

GQ

Adam had a haircut today for the first time in almost 2 months. He looked very GQ after Miss Alicia cut and styled his hair!

Adam also wanted me to take a picture of his Great White shark for all of you to see!

Snow pics!

Here are some pictures from yesterday. Emily spent almost 6 hours outside, while Adam was out 2 hours before it was lunch/nap time. Both kids slept well last night!

Making snow angels.

Adam and neighborhood friend AnnaWalking through the snow is hard work...
...so is pulling Anna in the sled!

No School!

We ended up with 7-9 inches across St. Louis last night, which was enough to close schools for a day. The bad thing about that is that the school district does robo-calls and so I haven't really be able to go back to sleep since 5:30 this morning when they called. Just as I was getting into the shower, I got a call from work to say that we are on a 2 hour delay, so at least I can shovel before I leave.