tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217996917367823933.post5316946023606194045..comments2011-03-28T13:34:45.405-04:00Comments on IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR: LIFE IMITATES ARTJACK DEENEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06205377773493081742noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2217996917367823933.post-22435939773996726122009-01-09T16:35:00.000-05:002009-01-09T16:35:00.000-05:00That sound you hear is Lincoln spinning in his gra...That sound you hear is Lincoln spinning in his grave. I just listended to Gov. Bag-o-chips (name created after he sold the last gambling license and pocketed unknown millions.)slap the the Illinois house around. Political supermarket? It's more like a shopping mall. In the shopping mall, you generally don't hear "clean up on isle 4, some nut couldn't wait to purchase his depends". No, in Illinois, you just move to a different store to buy the seats and positions you desire. Leave that mess in the isle for the regular folks to mop up with the soles of their shoes. Occassionally you'll run across a slip and fall lawyer like Fitzgerald, but he too is corrupt.<BR/><BR/>Yes, this is my real name and I'm bold enough to call it like it is. You see, one day long ago I was working as a waiter in a restaurant in Springfield when a man came in asking for the owner. He was selling fundraising tickets for $100 a pop. Not too big of a deal until the owner told him that she was not interested. No more than a half an hour later, the health department was doing an inspection of the place. Sure enough, an "F". During the lull between lunch and dinner, the same man came back with 5 tickets for sale. The owner bought the tickets and the health inspectors came back. This time the grade was an "A". When the owner handed me the tickets (she wasn't into politics at the time) I was shocked to learn that the function was for my own uncle for reelection. When I asked him about it, he just gave a blank look and said that he had nothing to do with it. Shortly after that, the restaurant started seeing the likes of Paul Simon, bow tie and all, Dick Durbin, George Ryan, Jim Edgar, even graced by George Mitchell. Not only was the place packed with politicos (now the owner was getting to like politics) but the take out and catering started to bloom. There were multiple occassions that I had to hop in the car and take boxes of Chinese food over to the Capitol Building to feed the starving reps. (thirsty too, given the large amounts of empty beer and booze bottles in the trash). The restaurant won many awards at "The Taste of Springfield". All was grand for simple $500.<BR/><BR/>Thats how it works in Illinois. You pay, you play.John Ansellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01528927415549352518noreply@blogger.com