Blagojevich: "It's [expletive] golden"!

Wow. What an overachiever. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich not only seems to be shamefully corrupt, but he has managed to advertise that fact across the globe. Normally a governor being arrested by federal investigators might make the national news, but Rod's alleged attempt to sell internationally famous Barack Obama's soon-to-be-vacant US Senate seat has made a stink that the whole world can smell. Thanks Rod.

You can read all about this as well as other fun facts in the BBC article here. My favorite are the little quoted gems gathered from the FBI wiretaps on Mr. Blagojevich's phone. According to the FBI, in reference to Obama's seat, Rod said "I've got this thing and it's [expletive] golden, and uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing." I think "something" is just what you are about to get, sir.

I wrote a couple of posts ago about the kabuki-za's impending doom, and I made a reference to the very stylish Dana-Thomas House in Springfield. Sure enough, shortly afterward my friend Sam(gentleman and scholar) reminded me that the building had been closed to visitors December 1st due to budgets cuts made by.... Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. 8 days later he was in jail. Coincidence, or curse of Frank Lloyd Wright? You decide.

Wrecking Ball for the Kabuki-za

I was a bit shocked while reading a recent BBC News article concerning the Kabuki-za, a kabuki theater located in the Ginza district of Tokyo. The article, (here) reports that the iconic theater is slated to be demolished in 2010. One of the questionable reasons a company spokesman gave for the decision was that the theater "doesn't have enough toilets."

A notion persists that when it comes to urban planning, property owners have the final word. And that, generally speaking, the people in charge know best. There is little protection from demolition for landmark buildings, even when they are labelled - as the Kabuki-za is - "tangible cultural assets".

I had the opportunity of seeing some performances at the Kabuki-za last January, and I can attest that the building looks great. Its a bit of a jewel of Ginza I think, as there aren't many buildings like that left anywhere.

The article also mentions the 1968 destruction of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Imperial Hotel, a sacrilege to a resident of Springfield, home of Wright's Dana-Thomas House. I hope that everyone will come to their senses before Japan completely destroys its own physical heritage in favor of ugly and ever-larger concrete rectangles.

Elections

The last week or so was very busy for me. I did a bit of local sightseeing. The first place that I went to was the Lincoln Depot. Abraham Lincoln's final speech to the people of Springfield was given here. The next time this town would see Abe would be in a casket, delivered to this same train station. The depot's website is very weak, and it is generally the ugly duckling of the area's Lincoln attractions. It is owned by the nearby State Journal Register, which might account for it's low-budget presentation. It was worth the quick visit, despite its shortcomings.

I made another visit to the Dana-Thomas House. Frank Lloyd Wright is the most famous American architect of all time, and one of his masterpieces is sitting right next to the YMCA that I used to hang out at. It really is an excellent place. It is tempting to underestimate a house that I have driven by and ignored so many times, but it is a real gem. I definitely recommend it. I've probably been there five times now, and I still enjoyed this latest time very much. The design is so excellent that at it times things seem very new rather than very old. Of particular interest is a personal bowling lane situated in the basement. There is even some occasional Japanese influence hiding in the house, which is of particular interest to me. He even designed a few structures that were built in Japan. What a guy.

I took Angelica to the St. Louis airport on Monday, and I've been doing alot of running around getting her ready to go home. We still don't know her visa results, so who knows if she is even going to come back here. Luckily I still have my trip to Colombia to look forward to, or that would have been a much more depressing drive home.

Today has been pretty slow in comparison. I voted in Springfield's local elections today. I didn't really have to do much soul searching this time. My main local concerns are few. I think that the smoking ban needs to stay in place. The write-in candidate for mayor, Mario Ingoglia, seemed to be running on an interesting working man, populist kind of campaign. Once I heard him say that he wanted to get rid of Springfield's smoking ban, though, I stopped listening. True, it might bring a few more jobs, but the big increases wouldn't be in the waitress or bartender positions. I think they the big increase in jobs that smoking brings is all the nurses needed to bring jell-o to people dying of lung cancer. No thanks.

The other thing that bothers me is all of the people sleeping at the library. They've got to go. Let's find a better place for them to stay, maybe. But turning the library into a scary shanty town isn't going to do anything but shoo away the few people that want to take advantage of the lincoln library. Laziness is enough of an obstacle to keep people from reading, panhandlers will pretty much seal the deal.

Other than that, I am working like a beast of burden everyday. I watch my Lost, play the occasional video game, and do my best to keep it real.