The locals watch Obama on television from the Wyffels' Seed Factory in Atkinson, Illinois on Wednesday, August 17, 2011.

I took off for Atkinson, Illinois at 10:30 a.m. President Obama was to visit this village of 1100 people at 11:30 a.m. After 2 presidential campaigns, where the time of arrival is usually off by at least a half hour (His 3:30 stop in Alpha, for instance, did not occur until 5:00 p.m.) I was pretty sure that I’d beat the President to the flag-draped town 8 miles east of Geneseo.

I drove past Geneseo on Interstate 80, an approximate 30 to 40 minute drive, in the Grasshopper (my 2005 green Prius) and, at each overpass, I noticed police with police and highway patrol cars above me. At each turnaround there was a large orange piece of heavy duty equipment that would prevent anyone from doing a “turnaround”—even if turnarounds were not specifically prohibited by signage.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011.

So, picture me humming “dum de dum dum” (although I was actually listening to the late, great Amy Winehouse sing “no, no, no” to the idea of going to rehab. )Up came the exit for Atkinson (pop. 1100) and I exited. I made the turn onto the overpass to the left only to have a highway patrolman frantically wave at me to “go back.”

Initially, I began back-pedaling like a kid stung by a wasp, but then I thought, “Wait a minute. How am I going to get into Atkinson if this is the exit and this guy won’t let me use the road?”  (At that point, I had not yet thought of back roads.) I put the Grasshopper into Drive and slowly and cautiously inched forward to ask the nice highway patrolman where he suggested I should go. he didn’t say, “To hell,” but he might as well have, given the level of hysteria he projected.

“You’re on the entrance ramp!” he screamed, quite unnecessarily. “You’re just ahead of the motorcade!”

This was exactly as I had hoped would be the case: me waiting for a brief time, rather than spending my whole morning standing around in the hot sun waiting for a large black bus to breeze by me. One man I spoke to later said he had been outside since 8:00 a.m.

Federal stimulus money helped underwrite the construction of the village's new fire station, currently under construction.

I finally backed up and took the ramp heading east towards Chicago, not quite sure what my next move should be.  As I was speeding along on Interstate 80 to the east, I saw one of the turn-arounds that had, for some inexplicable reason, not been barricaded by large orange trucks. Despite signs suggesting that I not make a turn-around, I was headed in the wrong direction and getting nowhere fast, so I chanced it. Now I was, at least, heading back toward the overpass I was not being allowed to use to enter Atkinson. Since the first Smokey (yes, they were wearing those peaked hats) had been quite set against allowing me access to the delights of the village of Atkinson, I needed to figure out how I was going to access the town. I didn’t expect to be among the 300 people crowded into the Wyffel’s Seed Facility: those seats went fast and people got in line as early as 2:00 a.m. and still got shut out. I just planned to wander around in town and see what the mood of the populace was.
Would there be demonstrators, for or against the president’s visit? Would there be unpleasantness of the sort I had recently been subjected to, where a know-nothing graduate of Jefferson High School (in Independence, Iowa), a Bible-thumping seller of reverse mortgage programs who was “so proud” to be in the industry had called me both “stupid” and “godless” because I was not down with the Republican presidential candidates. I could envision some of these reverse mortgage engineers (think Fred Thompson), driving trucks with gun racks, getting in my face (or someone else’s face who had actually managed to gain admission to the tiny town) and being unpleasant. This was what I hoped to find out: just how unpleasant or pleasant would the populace be? What would the mood be “on the ground.”

I began heading back towards the overpass. It occurred to me that, since the first Smokey the Bear policeman had told me that the motorcade was right behind me, I could perhaps get a snapshot of the motorcade on its way across that very ramp, heading into town (something I was not having much luck doing.)

I drove as slowly as I could drive while on an Interstate and, about a mile from the overpass, while braking sharply, 2 cameras 2 maps, 2 notebooks and my purse all fell off the passenger’s side seat and fell to the floor. Turning on my signal, I pulled over to the shoulder of I-80 to pick up my camera equipment, et. al. By the time my head came up from under the dashboard, I was greeted by the sight of yet another Smokey the Bear look-alike burning rubber while accelerating his highway patrol car in reverse, heading towards the Grasshopper at warp speed.

This conversation took place with the highway patrolman guy, who was as impressed with his lot in life as anyone I’ve met.

“MA’AM! WE CAN’T HAVE THIS!”

“I know. My cheap Canon fell on top of my expensive Nikon!” (me)

(Smokey) “NO! I MEAN WE CAN’T HAVE YOU HERE!”

(Me) “But I AM here. I’m just waiting till the motorcade goes by so I can get into town.”

(Smokey) “WE CAN’T HAVE THAT! MOVE ALONG!”

(Me) “Can I just pop out and take a picture of the overpass as the motorcade drives into town?”

(Smokey) Dumfounded. Incredulous look.

So, I once again drove down Interstate 80, this time driving back to the west, towards Geneseo.  Since I was still laboring under the misconception that Obama had spent the night at the Blackhawk Hotel in downtown Davenport and, therefore, would be coming from the west, I briefly considered staying in the parking lot of the convenience store at the intersection and taking a photo from that vantage point.

Then I remembered that there was a back road to access Geneseo. I reasoned there must be a back highway to access Atkinson and I plugged in the Atkinson Town Hall as my destination of choice. Sure enough, Highway 6 would take me to Atkinson, and I began following the nice lady’s voice to drive town the flag-lined road and roam the small village.

As I drove aimlessly about in Atkinson, I was struck by the small-town look and feel of the boulevard-like main street, which, I noticed, had a corner tap that was open for business.  I parked my car and strolled in to order a Diet Coke and test the waters.

There was a bar stool open at the bar, next to a couple, Mr. and Mrs. VanOpdorp, who lived in Atkinson for years but now live in Rock Island.

“My grandfather came through here on the train when he arrived from Holland. He got off the train at this very bar, which has been open since the 1800′s, and had his first beer in America and he just decided to stay.” So, if he had bought his first beer in New Mexico, Mr. VanOpdorp might have been living in a much warmer climate.

Without asking anyone’s political designation, I asked Mr. and Mrs. VanOpDorp and others seated near me in the bar who they liked in the 2012 presidential race.   “Do you think the Republicans will nominate Romney to run against Obama?” I asked, as the two plasma TV sets behind the bar showed President Obama’s remarks, live, on KWQC Channel 6.

“Naaah. The Republicans don’t have a dog in the fight, so far,” said Mr. VanOpdorp.

“You don’t think the Republicans have any good candidates?”

“Naaah.” Mr. VanOpdorp and his wife both shook their heads no.

“What about Governor Perry of Texas?”

“Naaah.”

Apparently, the crowd inside the Corner Tap in Atkinson was either firmly Democratic or simply disinterested in the outcome of the election, but everyone in the bar was very interested in what President Barack had to say this day. All were listening intently and respectfully.

Later, on the streets of Atkinson, fathers held their young children on their shoulders to catch a glimpse of the President of the United States as he drove out of town in his big black bus, waving to all of us standing on the sidewalks waiting to catch a glimpse of him.

In the wake of Michele Bachmann’s pulling out all the stops, including bringing in Travis Tritt and “meat sundaes” to her tent at the Iowa Straw Poll, is it any wonder that, after 17,000 votes were cast, she was pronounced the winner by a slight margin (200 votes or so) over Ron Paul, who also had his “Dump Bernanke” tank and the “dollar slide” AND the best tent position. Add to that Bachmann’s claims to being “a 7th generation Iowan” and it doesn’t seem too surprising that she won the straw poll, which is about as unscientific as you can get and seldom predicts the winner, anyway.

That is why this line from Matt Strawn, Iowa Republican Party chairman, seems disingenuous:  “I think for the first time in a long time, there’s probably more uncertainty over what the ultimate finish will be in Ames.”  My reaction to that: “Ha!” I wrote a piece that appeared yesterday that pointed all the above out and drew the obvious conclusion that Bachmann would do well. She did. What is Matt Strawn smoking or eating over there in Ames?

If you missed the notice in the Chicago “Tribune” today (Thursday, August 11, 2011), the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 25 requested documents of Deere & Company regarding a possible violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Russia. A Deere spokesman told Bloomberg that the company is cooperating with the SEC request and gave no further details.

It would be nice to see what candidates Deere bankrolled in the recent political elections and which they will bankroll in 2012.

Connie Wilson’s Contributor Profile – Yahoo! Contributor Network – Yahoo! Contributor Network – contributor.yahoo.com

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R, Ohio).

As the debt ceiling talks stall, I am reminded of the “Rolling Stone” article I wrote on Speaker John Boehner back in January. If you haven’t read what is essentially a synopsis of an extremely informative article in “Rolling Stone” by Matt Taibbi, there’s a link above. It would be a good idea to read it, in light of the unprecedented crisis he and his party have thrust upon our country with the failure to pass an extension of the debt ceiling, something done 18 times for Reagan and 7 times for Clinton. Bush the Younger, who got us into this mess by blowing through the surplus that President Clinton left and getting us into multiple conflicts worldwide also had the debt ceiling raised several times, whether the leadership was Republican or Democratic.
But our first black president cannot catch a break from the Tea Party tribe recently installed in the hallowed halls of Congress.  I saw the potential for impasse up close and personal in 2008 at the Ron Paul Rally for America in Minneapolis’ Target Center. I remember saying then, “If the Republicans can harness all this energy and enthusiasm and youth, they have a shot at revitalizing their party,” which, let’s face it, was looking pretty old and white and homogeneous across town in St. Paul at the RNC. That harnessing, unfortunately, has led us to the brink of financial ruin, as the group that emerged became known as the Tea Party.

Here’s a quote from today’s (July 28^th) Chicago “Tribune” regarding Speaker Boehner and the current impasse:  “He is the party,” said Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R, Ohio), a longtime ally.   “If he’s diminished, the party is diminished.” Given the way they’ve been acting, all I can say to that is a resounding, “Good!”

A few more quotes from a different Chicago “Tribune” article by Lisa Mascaro and Kathleen Hennessey of the “Tribune’s” Washington bureau. (And make no mistake about it: the “Tribune” is pro-Republican most of the time and praised Boehner’s bone-headed 2-step tax proposal, which would put “we, the people” through this mess all over again in 6 months’ time…a bad idea in and of itself.)

Page12, July 28, “Nation & World” section, “Boehner Steers A Rocky Path:”  “Earlier this week, the plan was relegated to life support when an analysis showed it would not cut as much as advertised, threatening to take Boehner down with it amid warnings of dire economic consequences for failing to act.  In a quickly changing atmosphere, though, little is certain.”

The “Tribune also said, on the same page, “If the GOP majority ends up falling in line, Boehner will emerge as a cool political operative who found a way to steer his caucus and its unruly freshman class to momentary unity.  If the bill fails, Boehner will have proved the conventional wisdom:  Neither he, nor possibly anyone else on his team can control the rambunctious tea party-aligned GOP ranks that are redefining what it means to be a conservative in this country.”

Later in the article (and at great length in the original January piece. link above), the comment was made:  “Boehner’s hold over these newcomers is fragile.”

Let’s face it: NOBODY has control over the Tea Party loose cannon element in Congress. The nation is pretty sick of it.  Quoting folks who live near the Beltway, Faye Fiore of the “Tribune” papers quoted 66-year-old Warren Cohen of Fairfax as saying, “Lunacy” and announcing his willingness to pay more taxes on his $250,000 in income.  That comment was made “as the country barreled toward a financial cliff.” Noted Fiore, “They’ve (citizens interviewed) had it up to here with politicians who listen to the fringes of their parties, then expound about what ‘Americans want.’”

I just signed a petition authorizing President Obama to invoke the 14^th Amendment and, if necessary, raise this debt ceiling on his own recognizance. He has tried to “lead from behind,” as the pundits put it, being reasonable with a group of intractable Congressmen who act like two-year-olds and putting up with a lot more ridiculous behavior from the Tea Party crowd than any informed, intelligent, dedicated public servant should have to put up with. It seems like most of them deserve a “time out.” This former Senator and Harvard grad , who is now the President of the United States,  is at the mercy in the case of my own district (17^th Congressional, Illinois) of a guy with a 2-year degree from Black Hawk Junior College and not much else on his resume, other than owning a pizza parlor, being firmly in the pocket of big contributors in this area such as John Deere, and having once served his union. He and the man he defeated (Phil Hare) were both staunch Catholic graduates of Alleman High School in Rock Island, but only Bobby Schilling has 10 kids. (Hare had only 2). Only Hare had 27 years’ experience as Lane Evans’ right-hand man until he had to retire with Parkinson’s disease, also, and that, too, shows in this most recent idiocy. Schilling is among 5 first-term GOP House members from Illinois. He was endorsed by the Tea Party when he ran and you can bet your endangered Social Security dollars that he is going to have a real fight on his hands during the next run for office, given his performance to date.

Here is how Faye Fiore in McLean, Virginia put it:  “They (the citizens) want this debt game over.  It’s getting old: rich lawmakers playing chicken with the lives of people who can’t afford it.” Senator Harry Reid has already announced that the plan, even if it were to pass, is DOA in the Senate, and there is also the matter of a presidential veto that would be likely. But getting this group of Republicans to agree on anything is like herding cats, and not particularly bright cats, at that.  Does the old cliche “Lead, follow or get out of the way” carry any meaning any more? The Republican “followers” seem unwilling to “follow” their own leader and the ostensible leader has never been noted for leading much of anything but the group leaving the 18th hole for the country club bar. Ergo, get out of the way seems apropos.

CNN’s “live” coverage of the 7 Republican hopefuls debating from St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire just concluded.   Anderson Cooper is winding up the John King moderated debate.

Ron Paul is talking with Anderson Cooper about the stark contrast between his position on bringing all troops home from foreign engagements and the less dramatic opinions of the other candidates. “All great nations usually go down when they spread themselves too thin around the world,” said Paul to Cooper. “Financially, it’s a lot easier to go after this overseas spending than to go after health care.” Ron Paul said in comparing this year’s debate versus those he was involved in in 2008, “There was a difference. The reactions were different. The country now is definitely moving in the direction of less government and a different foreign policy.”

On the role of faith in public life, Paul said, “I think faith has something to do with the people. …You can’t teach people how to be moral.” Paul underscored the 1^st Amendment religious freedom tenet.  Is Christianity under attack? asked Cooper? “I think, to some degree,” responded Ron Paul.   Paul said, “You can’t legislate morality…the law has to have a moral fiber to it. That’s how I think it should apply. It’d be nice if we could remake Afghanistan, but the blowback is too big.”

In speaking with John King, David Gergen and Gloria Borger,   Ron Paul underscored that there is a retreat from positions of the previous campaign debates on foreign policy. Gergen said what struck him was how much more conservative the Republican Party has become and that they are “pretty far to the right.”

The exchange with Herman Cain (former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza) about hiring Muslims came up. Cain:  “A lot of Muslims are not totally dedicated to this country,” was attributed to Herman Cain. He said he would not be comfortable with appointing Muslims to his Cabinet. Newt Gingrich said he “wanted to go out on a limb here” in demanding an oath of fealty for those who would serve in his Administration.

Andy Card, former White House Chief of Staff for President Bush, said that he felt Herman Cain was trying to dig himself out of a hole on the entire Muslim line of questioning.  Cain appeared to be in a hole all night, as far as I could determine.  Gergen said that Truman had loyalty tests and it was considered a bad blot on his record and led to McCarthyism.  Cornell Belcher, CNN correspondent, said he was “not comfortable with him (Cain).” Independent and moderate voters would not be comfortable with this answer about “loyalty tests.”

I wasn’t comfortable with any of the candidates onstage at the Republican debates. Those who performed best were Mitt Romney, the front-runner and Michelle Bachmann, the former Senator from Minnesota. Although Bachmann can sound as bigoted as they come, this night she announced that, if elected, she wouldn’t let her personal beliefs intrude on state’s rights, especially in regards to abortion and/or its banning.

Attacks

President Obama took a beating all night long. “He’s failed the American people “said Romney of Obama. Bachmann said, “His report card right now has a big old ‘F.’” Robert Gibbs, former Press Secretary for Obama, speaking afterwards on behalf of the Administration, said, “If you wanted to hear the economic problems that set us up for our current problems, that is exactly what these candidates talked about tonight…We had a massive economic recessions that crested in September of 2008.” Gibbs said, “We have to understand what got us into this mess and we have to make sure we don’t hire somebody to get us right back into this mess.”  Gibbs commented on the reforms imposed on the financial institutions and how the Republican candidates want to un-do those financial regulations, as well as slash Medicare and Social Security.

King said, “It’s either a choice or a referendum.”  If it’s a choice, said moderator King, then many Democrats are saying, “Where is he? Why isn’t he out there?” Gibbs responded that the American public wants Obama out there talking to CEO’s and creating more jobs. “It took us a while to get into this mess and it’s going to take us a while to get out,” Gibbs said. He responded to a question from Gloria Borger, CNN Chief Political Analyst, “In May, the polling (CNN) showed that public blamed Bush more than Obama for the mess we’re in.” “I’m not suggesting that this election is going to be about blaming Bush,” said Gibbs as the spokesperson for the White House, “but the policies you heard tonight were the same ones that got us into this mess.  …I think we have to understand that the American people are hurting every day. We have family members that are out of work. We have neighbors that are out of work. ..We’re going to have bits and sparks to this procedure,” defended Gibbs.

David Gergen:  “The question becomes, ‘When is the President going to give us a plan to deal with the slowing of the economy?’”  Gibbs: “I’m not setting this up to be a referendum on George W. Bush, but, first and foremost, we have to continue to do the things like tax cuts for small businesses.” Does Obama have more legislation on the table? asked Gergen.  Gibbs responded that the administration needs to structure this carefully.  (He used, as an example that it can’t be set up so that a business that fired Anderson Cooper on Monday could then hire him back on Tuesday to  get a tax credit.)
“Are there things that we can continue to do to spur the economy?” repeated Gibbs back to Gergen, saying, as an answer, “We’ve got to increase job training.  Some of the jobs that went away we know aren’t coming back.”

From a veteran political junkie’s point of view, I would say that nobody laid a glove on Romney, who looked presidential, and Rick Santorum revealed even more unpleasant things about his arch-conservative personality. (Lately, there have been articles about Mrs. Santorum’s abortion history, but the Santorums are extremely conservative on the topic, even in cases of rape or incest, even though she, herself, basically has been revealed as having had such a procedure.

Herman Cain just came off as extraneous to the debate and, although Pawlenty had a chance to take shots at Romney (which he had just done on a national news program), in person, mano a mano, he demurred and remained polite.  Bachmann did better than anticipated.  Ron Paul, as usual, provided some common sense mixed with some comedy. The arched eyebrows of Romney as he stood next to Ron Paul watching him were priceless. [Surely this will resurface on “Saturday Night Live.”]

The debate about Sharia Law seemed a ridiculous topic, given the true problems this nation faces.  In dial-testing done in real time, the Opera House Republicans and Independents in Rochester, New Hampshire became heated on the topic of right to work laws.  Pawlenty’s remarks on having the “right to work” were popular.  The biggest reaction early on was to that topic. Citizens in Ohio and Wisconsin, where teachers, firefighters and other union employees are under attack (and the Governor of Ohio is a spawn of Fox News) might feel less enthused. The country as a whole might be less enthused about the dismantling of the programs and unions they have counted on all their lives.

Michelle Bachmann reintroduced herself to the American public, forcefully mentioning her 5 children (and 23 foster children) and bringing up her expertise as a tax lawyer.  Andy Card (former White House aide to Bush) said, of Bachmann’s performance:  “I thought Michele Bachmann did a very good job tonight.”  Bachmann scored points on Obama’s failure to raise the debt ceiling, when a Senator. The Tea Party-ers will like her, said the commentators.  “She came across as very electable tonight,” said one talking head.  Cooper wondered what Sarah Palin might have been thinking about Michele Bachmann while watching her this night. Gloria Borger felt she was “the positive candidate” and moved out of Sarah Palin’s shadow.

John King feels Bachmann’s challenge is whether she can move out of her identity as a Tea Party candidate. David Gergen felt she spoke in pithy, interesting sentences and she introduced her biography (repeatedly….Bachmann is a native of Waterloo, Iowa, so who knows how she’ll play in the Iowa caucuses).  Gloria Borger thought Bachmann was more impressive than Rick Santorum, the other social conservative.   Biggest winners were Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann, for me. Winners were declared to be:

51% Romney, Bachmann, 21%, 9% Pawlenty by Republicans.

35% Romney, 26% Bachmann and 12% Pawlenty by Democrats.

Cornell Blecher, CNN African American pundit, said that Michele Bachmann will be one of the last candidates standing.  Why would Pawlenty start an attack and then not follow through?  all commentators asked, in regards to the health care bill Romney initiated in Massachusetts when Governor. The consensus: Romney was the winner; Pawlenty missed an opportunity; Bachmann – most underrated.

The entire Republican debate revealed 7 people who oppose Obama’s Health Care bill, are anti-gay, oppose gay marriage and abortion rights, would like to restore “Don’t ask/don’t tell” and are very, very conservative. Cain and Paul seem to have no shot, but Paul is always amusing and a straight-shooter. Cain, a former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, seemed to have no business being on the stage with the other career politicians, but, then, prior to the debate, one would have said that of Michele Bachmann.

It was reported in the Chicago Tribune on Thursday, May 26, that a film about Sarah Palin entitled “The Undefeated” is going to be screened first in Iowa. The Hawkeye state already has a reputation for all things corny, as I well know (being a native), so this seems appropriate.

It seems even more apropos should the Palin person decide to announce she is running for President of the United States. After all, if Donald Trump can (and Pat Paulsen before him), why not Sarah Palin? Why else make a movie about a woman who didn’t even finish out her full term a Governor of Alaska and is now reported to be buying real estate in Arizona?

The film is a 2-hour documentary financed by conservative filmmaker Stephen Bannon. With $1 million and Palin’s help and permission, footage has been obtained (and included) of Ms Palin’s time as a member of the Wasilla City Council. (It was not reported if there was film of her resigning her office as Governor mid-way through her term.)

Besides giving me a “heads up” that I must make it a point to catch this no-doubt Oscar-worthy and eminently objective movie, it set off political pundits at the Tribune to the point that an entire article was devoted to possible alternative titles (tongue-in-cheek). They ran in the Sunday, May 29, 2011 Chicago Tribune, and, quite frankly, they are too good to keep under wraps. Some appeared on various blogs, but I have added quite a few original titles of my own:

Possible Alternative Titles for the Film about Sarah Palin’s Illustrious Political Career:

“All About Sarah”

“Dark Victory”

“Forgetting Sarah Palin”

“Mooseferatu”

“To Kill and Field Dress A Mockingbird”

“Children of a Lesser Todd”

“Children of the Corn Meet Children of the Candidate”

“The Devil Wears Mukluks”

“In What Respect, Charlie Brown?”

“I Can See Russia from my Seat Ringside at ‘Dancing with the Stars’”

“Citizen Vain”

“There Will Be Blood Libel”

“Kiss of the Snider Woman”

“Blazing Prattle”

“South from Alaska”

“Desperately Seeking Syntax”

“From Within Sight of Russia, With Love”

“The Todd Also Rises”

“Mama Grizzly, Dearest”

“Birthers of a Nation”

“Must Hate Wolves”

“Motorcycle Mama”

“Driving Miss Dizzy”

“Death Panel Becomes Her”

“Honey! I Exploited the Kids!”

“No Country for Newspaper Reading Sissies”

“Close Encounters of the Third-Rate Kind”

“Nightmare on Elk Street”

“Belfries Are Ringing”

“The Dumb Luck Club”

“I Know That You Quit Last Summer”

“Gone Is the Win”

“Dancing Toward the Dark”

“When Sarah Met Romney”

“The Shawshank Refudiation”

“Fear and Loathing in Des Moines”

Add your own potential title for the new Sarah Palin movie below.

Copyright 2011 by Connie Wilson

On July 28, 2006, the Army Sustainment Command (i.e., the Rock Island Arsenal) in Rock Island, Illinois (also known to we Quad City natives as Arsenal Island) posted a 44-page document on fbo.gov entitled “A Solicitation for Nonstandard Ammunition.” The order was similar to other orders on fbo.gov, in that it had blank spaces for name and telephone numbers and hundreds of spaces to be filled in.  The document represented a semi-covert operation by the Bush Administration, which wasn’t at all sure that the 2008 presidential election would go Republican. The Bushies wanted to make sure that the Afghanistan rebels would have enough ammunition and weapons to keep fighting, no matter who was president, so they were going to go around Congress, as is often the custom, and prop up the Afghan National Army.

The order was a big one: enough to equip a small army.  It included ammunition for Ak-47 assault rifles and SVD Dgarunov sniper rifles, GP 30 grenades, 82 mm Russian mortars, S-KO aviation rockets in enormous quantities. The contract would go to a single bidder as the wording read, “One firm fixed-price award, on an all-or-none basis, will be made as a result of this solicitation.”  The money was only available for 2 years (which was the amount of time George W. Bush had left in office.) Unlike most federal contracts, there was no dollar limit posted.

These kinds of contracts are what the Pentagon calls a “pseudo case:” the intent was to go around Congress and allocate defense funds without the approval of Congress. The order would be published—but only on fbo.gov.

A couple of stoners located in Miami stumbled on the posting and soon were bidding $300 million (which turned out to be $50 million lower than the nearest competitor) for this enormous government contract.  The two principals in the small firm known as AEY, David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli, had no business being in the running for such a large contract, but there were 3 reasons why they got it, anyway:

#1) The Bush administration had started a small business initiative at the Pentagon, requiring that a certain percentage of contracts awarded go to smaller businesses like AEY.

#2) Packouz and Diveroli specialized in exactly the sort of arms the ad was looking for.  They had the “past performance” that the Pentagon would be looking for, and,

#3) The posting required only that the ammunition be “serviceable without qualification.”

What that last bit of mumbo-jumbo means is that quality of the ammunition was not an issue, indicating how ambivalent the Bush administration was towards the Afghan fighting. They’d supply them with arms and munitions, but, as Packouz and Diveroli put it, “The Pentagon didn’t care if we supplied shit ammo, as long as it went bang and out of the barrel.”

Thus began the long, strange journey that led Packouz and Diveroli to not only pose as international arms dealers (while smoking dope in South Beach), but also to prison.  Diveroli to a 4-year-prison term and Packouz to turn state’s witness. Along the way, at least one of the players in this elaborate scam ended up dead under mysterious circumstances (Kosta Trebicka of Albania) and a small-time guy like Diveroli told his new partner (recruited from their mutual synagogue), “I’ve found the perfect contract for us.  It’s enormous—far, far bigger than anything we’ve done before, but it’s right up our alley.”

The first task order was for $600,000 of grenades.  It was important that the company of two come through on the initial order. As Diveroli put it to Packouz in the “Rolling Stone” article from which this information is taken (“Arms and the Dudes,” by Guy Lawson in the March 31, 2011 Rolling Stone issue), “You’ve got the bitch’s panties off, but you haven’t fucked her yet.” (p. 59).

The second task order was for $49 million in ammunition, including $100 million rounds of AK ammunition and over a million grenades for rocket launchers. Packouz calculated that he stood to make as much as $6 million on the contract—if the duo could deliver. The order allowed the two to live the high life at the Flamingo in Miami, telling the other attorneys and would-be models who lived there that they were arms dealers. The line was something along the lines of, “You know the war in Afghanistan? The bullets are all ours.”

Unfortunately, there were only the two of them. A task normally handled by teams of weapons experts was dumped in Packouz’ lap and he and Diveroli began contacting the Ukraine, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Albania and attending events like the International Defense Exhibition in Abu Dhabi for suppliers. Rosboron Export, the official dealer for all Russian arms, sold more than 90% of Russian weapons, but Rosboron was banned by the State Department for selling nuclear equipment to Iran. There was also the problem of shipping the weapons…if they could be found…to Afghanistan.  Turkmenistan, a former Soviet satellite, had to be crossed to get to Afghanistan, and permission could not be obtained. As Packouz put it, “It was clear that Putin was fucking with us directly.  If the Russians made life difficult for us, they would get taken off the Russian blacklist, so they could get our business for themselves.” (p. 72, Guy Lawson’s Rolling Stone article “Arms and the Dudes.”

Every day, Packouz would send volleys of e-mails to Kabul and Kyrgyzstan and the Army Arsenal command in Rock Island, Illinois, set on an island in the middle of the Mississippi, once designated something like 7^th to go in the event of a Russian nuclear attack. (Omaha with its SAC facilities always ranked high on the list, too).

The contracting officers told Packouz there was “a secret agenda.” Quote from the article, p. 72:  “They said Bush and Rumsfeld were trying to arm Afghanistan with enough ammo to last them the next few decades.  It made sense to me, but I didn’t really care.  My main motivator was making money, just like it was for General Dynamics.  Nobody goes into the arms business for altruistic purposes.”

The 9% profit margins that the newbies had decided might be high enough soon gave way to 25% mark-ups, leaving Packouz and Diveroli with $85 million in profits. The boys had delusions of grandeur, even moving into larger offices, rather than the modest apartment they originally operated from and bringing in 2 young secretaries courtesy of Craigslist, 2 more friends from their synagogue and a Russian interpreter to help them fulfill the contracts. Said Packouz of that time, “Things were rolling along.  We were delivering on a consistent basis.  We had suppliers in Hungary and Bulgaria and other countries.  I had finally arranged all the overflight permits.  We were cash positive.”

A few weeks after the contract was awarded to AEY, the fledgling arms dealers were summoned to a meeting with the purchasing officers at the Rock Island Arsenal.  Because they were so young, the duo asked Ralph Merrill, the Utah Mormon gun manufacturer in his sixties who had bankrolled them, to go with them to the meeting.  Diveroli was also able to show auditors a personal bank balance of $5.4 million.

As “Rolling Stone” describes the meeting on Arsenal Island on page 59:  “The meeting with Army officials proved to be a formality. Diveroli had the contracting jargon down, and he sailed through the technical aspects of the transaction with confidence:  supply sources, end-user certificates, AEY’s experience.  Said Packouz afterwards, “I just think it never occurred to the Army people that they were dealing with a couple of dudes in their early twenties.” (p. 59, “Arms & the Dudes” in March 31, 3011 Rolling Stone magazine.)

Eventually, as one of the boys’ aunts had predicted all along, things went bust.  The New York Times ran a front-page story in March of 2008 entitled “Supplier Under Scrutiny on Arms for Afghans.” As the eventual House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform concluded, “The AEY contract can be viewed as a case study in what is wrong with the procurement process.” (p.75).  As the article concludes, “The Bush administration’s push to outsource its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in short, had sent companies like AEY into the world of illegal arms dealers, but when things turned nasty, the federal government reacted with righteous indignation.” The investigation than ultimately yielded a 4-year sentence (lengthened by a questionable lapse of judgment on Diveroli’s part in handling a machine gun when specifically banned from doing so), there was “a questionable need for the contract, a grossly inadequate assessment of AEY’s qualifications and poor execution and oversight of the contract.”
And it all happened at our local Rock Island Arsenal. Read the gorier details (and there are LOTS more, in the March 31, 2011 Rolling Stone magazine with Howard Stern on the cover.)

On January 16, 2010, I posted an article on my blog, “Weekly Wilson” that detailed  my  firsthand experiences as a one-time candidate for 1^st Ward Alderman in East Moline, Illinois in 2005 who knew the vote totals announced in her race the next morning were false.  (*Read the first article to see how on Weekly Wilson to see why I was able to figure out that the sudden turn-around of an election night victory for Yours Truly to a neat “she lost by 10 votes” in the morning Quad City Times could not possibly be right.)

At the time, I promised my mother-in-law I would not write about the election. She feared it would come off  \as though I were a “sore loser,” which I was not. So, I did not write about it in 2005. I did not write about it until many years later, when a Letter to the Editor from Helen Heiland appeared, decrying the fact that she had been passed over to be Democratic County Chairman upon the retirement (and subsequent death) of John Gianulis.

Helen Heiland’s  Letter to the Editor about how she should be the Heir Apparent to the corrupt Democratic County Chairman throne  was the straw that broke the camel’s back, for me, in terms of sharing information. This was the same person who knew the truth about her own fraudulent election (went home in tears from her own victory party), even if nobody else did and even if it could not then be proven because of the corruption in the Good Old Boy network. Thanks to an informant who turned state’s evidence, it now can be proven.

Furthermore, Helen Heiland was a contemporary of Mr. Gianulis, which means that, if I was old at 50-something then, she was extremely old.  I realize that various Congressmen serve until they have to be carted off in an ambulance, but, really, is that desirable? If you are in good health and can at least walk under your own power  and are of sound mind and can stay awake at a Council meeting (or even be present in the first place) and, (hopefully), are  intelligent, shouldn’t those qualities count for something in picking a representative of  the people?

I did not run for office to become a perennial political candidate, as Mrs. Heiland has become. I ran because my former junior high school students at Silvis (IL) Junior High were present at an organizational meeting for then-Mayor Jose “Joe” Moreno  in 2005. They enthusiastically urged me to challenge long-time 1^st Ward Alderman Helen Heiland (who nearly always ran unopposed), as did then-Mayor Joe Moreno.  I was the only one in the room who lived in the 1^st Ward. Not exactly overwhelming qualifications for office, but, with a Master’s plus 30, good health, the time to spend, and a long history of being honest and outspoken (I was the Sylvan Learning Center founder, and I helped achieve recognition for the SEA in Silvis as four-term Co-Chairman of the group) . I had the time, my heart was in the right place, and I wasn’t planning on parking my elderly posterior in the seat until I was cremated.

Helen Heiland had been blocking many of the Mayor’s progressive ideas, supposedly at the urging of then-Democratic County Chairman John Gianulis, who dictated, from above, what would happen in Rock Island County. Later, I was told by a highly-placed Illinois politician when I was present at the DNC in Denver that I was merely “collateral damage” in an attempt to beat Joe Moreno.

The irony was that, unlike Helen Heiland, who allied herself with now-Mayor John Thodos and ran as a teammate, spending thousands of dollars (I heard $25,000), I spent $500, asked for no political contributions (although I got a few) and ran alone. Joe and I were not a political team. He was a friend. He knew the political ropes, but Joe ran on his own, and I ran on my own. He certainly offered advice about such things as poll watchers (too late, as it turned out; it was already the day of the election, and I had none. One election judge voted twice under 2 different names and 3 people entered a booth together in one precinct, I learned.)

Joe had (supposedly) somehow angered former Illinois State Representative Denny Jacobs and was to be “taken down a peg or two,” I was told. I never knew whether to believe that story or not, since Joe’s wife, Lorna, is a Jacobs herself, the daughter of Don Jacobs, Denny’s brother. Why would Joe’s wife’s uncle want him to lose his Mayoral bid, especially when Joe was such a good and popular Mayor who appealed to the large Hispanic population and frequently went to the police station to serve as a free translator, at all hours of the day and night? You couldn’t ask for a nicer or more popular guy or one with better ideas.  It made no sense to me then, and it makes no sense to me now, so it must be wrong. (“Yeah, sure, that’s the ticket,” to quote an old Saturday Night Live line).

The only reason I could come up with on my own—[and it is and was pure speculation]— was that Denny Jacobs might be afraid that the popular Democratic Mayor of East Moline would one day eclipse his own son in popularity and prove to be a threat to Mike Jacobs in future elections. But,— I repeat—that is pure speculation from a political rookie, so I’d ignore that, like everything else I have ever reported has been ignored.  Like the recount in a tiny room in Rock Island that showed that I finished ahead of Helen Heiland in actual ballot voting was ignored and never merited so much as a single line in either newspaper. Just go ahead and forgetaboutit. (I told my mother she should have named me Cassandra. In mythology, Cassandra always told the truth but was never believed, because of a curse that had been placed upon her.)

Elections in Rock Island County, Illinois were rigged, at least from 1988 on. I know this from my own firsthand experience. [I would venture to say that Al Gore knows this from his own firsthand experience in Florida.]

I didn’t care that I had not won the 1^st Ward Alderman’s seat. As Joe Moreno himself would tell you, I agreed to run once (and once only). I was not willing to serve more than one term. I had “promises to keep” to myself and others. My Bucket List included building a place in Chicago, spending more time with my twin grandchildren there, and writing many books, which I have been doing (8 since 2002). I was not going to become a career politician, and, quite frankly, it is too bad that more honest people don’t enter politics with the idea of serving their fellow citizens, without planning to become career politicians (“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”).

And certainly politicians should not be planning to gain office merely to line their own pockets through schemes like the Auto Poll scheme (Leibovitz’ company? American Elections Systems, Inc., incorporated May 9, 2009)  or by buying up primo land for development in sweetheart deals or any of a number of other questionable political pursuits.

But the American Elections Systems, Inc. scheme that former Democrat County Clerk Richard “Dick” Leibovitz was implicated in 14 months ago goes beyond self-serving and into criminal waters. That is why I wonder why nothing more has been said or written about those 14-month old charges against Richard “Dick” Leibovitz.

Until I did some more digging, that is.

Despite a  girlfriend’s defense of her former classmate Mr. Leibovitz (“Oh, it was just an accounting error!” —Right. And I have swampland for sale in Florida.), it seems fairly apparent from the newspaper stories of January, 2010, that there were many examples of malfeasance in office under Richard “Dick” Leibovitz.

According to the Quad City Times, state records list three officers and directors for American Election Systems, Inc.: Richard Leibovitz; his son Christopher of Lenox, Illinois (listed as director); and James Harmening of Orland Park, Illinois, company secretary.  Harmening is also president of a Chicago-based information technology company called Computer Bits, Inc., which has provided “consulting services” to the County Clerk’s office. Computer Bits, Mr. Harmening’s company, was paid $48,969 since 2008 by Rock Island County, including $35,280 in federal grant funds.

Is it a big stretch to imagine that the conspiracy within the Rock island County Office Building could reach further than Mr. Leibovitz?  Couldn’t others…perhaps even the District Attorney’s office…be involved? What other offices might be involved? (Make a list). Is it difficult to imagine that someone who might be guilty of the charges we already know about couldn’t see his way clear, (if asked by powerful others in authority), to sneak a few extra ballots into this or that ballot box, come election night, just to keep the status quo the way the Powers-That-Be wanted them to be kept and make sure an election came out “right” ? Isn’t this the American way? Stuff the absentee ballot box, fix the election, get rich on the public dollar, retain power any way you can, so that you can profit financially?

Oh, wait.

No, that isn’t the American way that I believe in. That isn’t why  I spent $8,000 trying to show the rest of Rock Island County (and Scott County) what was going on over here across the “Joined-by-a-River” Quad Cities. Nelson, Keys & Keys tried to help me expose the corruption  in Rock Island County, Illinois.  Unfortunately, when the chips were down and the recount was going on, reporter Jenny Lee (Dispatch representative) who was present in the room, didn’t write a single word. And the Quad City Times guy must have been stuck on the bridge, because we didn’t see him at all.  And so it goes…and went. As a line from the new TV drama “The Chicago Code” put it, “There is corruption and then there is just the way things get done, and you gotta’ know the difference.”

I sense corruption, and lots of it, about to be exposed.

And, yes, it seems to have been “the way that things got done” in Rock Island County (at least since 1988).

District Attorney Jeff Terronez

District Attorney Jeff Terronez, a Democrat, prosecuted a United Township High School teacher, Jason Van Houtte, who was having sex with his underage students. One particular underage student, Julie W***, testified against Van Houtte, and he received a prison sentence.

Not long after that, additional charges surfaced that the current District Attorney, Jeff Terronez, (a Democrat) had taken the girl—his star witness— and a friend on trips and allegedly supplied alcohol to the underage pair. One story has the “trip” as a harmless trip to visit colleges in Iowa City and Springfield. Supposedly an adult associated with the attractive blonde cheerleader was present and shot film of Mr. Terronez (who is 40-ish and married) with the girls. One story alleges that the current charges against Mr. Terronez are simply a vendetta on the part of the underage girl, who really “loved” her former teacher and now wishes to get revenge, with the help of the camera footage shot by her Aunt, vengeance against the prosecuting attorney who put her former teacher love away. (If this is beginning to sound too much like a soap opera, I merely would say that you can’t make this stuff up.) All these charges were first aired on WQAD, Channel 8, by Anchor Chris Minor.

I am wondering why a District Attorney of any party would be escorting underaged teen-aged girls who were not his children on college visits. It is difficult to wrap one’s mind around the adjective “innocent,” (as in “innocent trip,”_ vendetta or no vendetta. If the trip was just a college visit, why was Mr. Terronez involved at all? Does the “She just wants to get even with him” story  hold together, realistically?

Quad City Times Sues

So, we have had 2 big political corruption stories in Rock Island County, Illinois in the past 14 months that seem(ed) unrelated and also seem to have been swept under the rug:

1)  Richard “Dick” Leibovitz’s alleged misdeeds involving the office he held for 22 years have not (yet) been punished. He has not been tried or fined or even mentioned in recent months, and it has been 14 months since the post I am repeating below this one appeared.

2)  The guilt or innocence of Rock Island District Attorney Jeff Leibovitz is also up in the air. The Quad City Times has been trying to find out what is happening regarding Mr. Leibovitz for months.

This is a timeline of the “Times” attempts to get to the bottom of the Terronez charges:

October 22, 2010: Jim Bohnsack, Rock Island County Board Chairman reported a telephone conversation wih Mr. Terronez during which District Attorney Terronez admitted that he was the subject of a police investigation. Illinois State Police declined to comment.

October 28, 2010:  QC Times filed a Freedom of Information Act with the Illinois State Police, asking for information.

November 10, 2010:  QC Times received a request from the Illinois State Police for a 5-day extension.

November 29, 2010:  A request for a FOIA review was submitted to the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor, via e-mail.  The office was supposed to submit a response within 7 days and 30 days to answer the request.

January 21, 2011:  The Illinois State Police mailed a letter to the QC Times, denying the FOIA request of November 3. The request did acknowledge that there was an ongoing investigation involving Terronez. An attorney with the public access counselor’s office said he would contact Illinois State Police and ask for the documents the newspaper requested and for an explanation for why the request was denied.

February 18, 2011:  The QC Times received a letter from the Attorney General’s Office with a response from the Illinois State Police. It asked the public access counselor to uphold the original denial of the newspaper’s FOIA request.

March 8, 2011:  The QC times filed sit against the Illinois State Police, seeking the release of the information.

(*The timeline above appeared in the Quad City Times newspaper of March 9, 2011, on page A4. This is what is unofficially know as “the run-around.”)

So, what is going on here? We have two cases against two prominent elected Illinois officials, both Democrats. There is an acknowledgement that one case, at least (i.e., Terronez) is “ongoing.”

The other older case (i.e., Leibovitz) is a case where one might say the trail has gone cold. Or has it?

Are the authorities trying to sweep everything under the rug, or is there a concerted attempt to finally “out” the ballot-stuffing and rigged elections that I experienced, firsthand, and many others have suspected were the norm in Rock Island Country over the years. I know that the Quad City Times has had suspicions that something was “rotten in Denmark” for years, because I spoke with one of its editors who wanted me to cut down my Letter to the Editor to a ridiculously few words.

I said that what happened to me (and, I don’t doubt, to Joe Moreno and countless others) could not be explained in “ a few words” and my letter never appeared. I did not even write the letter after the election of 2005. I wrote  only after Helen Heiland, (still clinging to her 1^st Ward Alderperson position until the grave beckons) sent a letter to the Moline Dispatch whining about how she should have been given John Gianulis’ position as Chairman of the Democratic party in Rock Island County.

So, what gives with the above?

While we’re all waiting for the suit that Donald Craven, attorney for the Quad City Times has filed against Interim Director Patrick Keen of the Illinois State Police (filed in Sangamon County) to wend its way through the courts, how can the public can find out what is going on? It’s been over a year since the fact of Mr. Leibovitz’s wrongdoing was first revealed…and many months (6, at least) since Mr. Terronez’s endorsement was removed from the campaign literature of a fellow Democratic candidate for office, due to the potential embarrassment factor. And, during that time, Mr. Terronez has still been acting as the District Attorney for Rock Island County, Illinois, even though one fact that has been admitted by the Illinois State Police is that he was and is the ongoing subject of a police investigation.

True, the investigation seemed to be about whether or not Mr. Terronez supplied alcohol to underage girls but is that all that he might be charged with when the facts hit the fan?

Some say that the Terronez case and the Leibovitz case are not separate at all, but iner-related. The entire house of cards that is Rock Island County politics might be coming crashing down on the heads of those who have called the shots and stuffed the ballots (mostly the absentee ballots) and released the wrong vote counts for years and years. How could the officials discover this?
Well, one way might be to read www.WeeklyWilson.com on January 10, 2010, where I explained how I went door-to-door exposing the corruption that existed in what should be fair elections in this county. I did it not for me, but for anyone who might come after me. It cost me $8,000, and…trust me on this…a seat at the table as 1^st Ward Alderman is not worth $8,000, but preserving free and fair elections is, to me…[idealist and honest person that I am.]

I had Darren Leibovitz in school when he attended Silvis Junior High School, as I explained in the original article regarding the Leibovitz charges. I had nothing to do with the discovery of Mr. Leibovitz’ alleged misuse of federal funds to build a company that marketed voting software, which would, therefore, feather his own private nest. I did not cry a river at losing a 1^st Ward alderman position that I planned to hold for the minimum amount of time—possibly only for 2 years— despite the charges some will make that I am telling this story in a “sour grapes” fashion.  There have been elections since 2005, and I have not sought public office, political outsider that I was then and am now. As I told State Representative Mike Jacobs in Denver at the DNC, “I like politics as a spectator sport.” It is not nearly as much fun as a participant, especially when you can’t even expect the County Clerk’s office to fairly count the vote.

Darren Leibovitz, Richard “Dick” Leibovitz’s son, was brought in to be deputy clerk in his office by Mr. Leibovitz just before he retired, thereby placing him in a position over an employee with more seniority and more experience, Pat Randall. The rumor is that Randall has been granted immunity to tell where the skeletons are buried and how the ballot boxes got stuffed with absentee votes for whichever candidates the Powers-That-Be decreed should win this time around. Recently, an auditor (Diana Robinson) has announced she will not run for re-election. The rumor there is that she hopes, when the proverbial s*** hits the fan, that at least her pension will be secure.

What will the charges be? If the rumors turn out to be accurate, everything from vote fraud (which is what I told the Quad City Times back in 2005) to racketeering to RICO whatever. Who knows who all will be implicated and which powers on the throne will be toppled. Certainly not me. One source said, “Believe me…It’s gonna’ be far-reaching.”

Will any of the things I’ve said here turn out to be true? We’ll  have to wait and see. Just ignore me, as many did when I said Obama would carry Iowa. Just ignore me, as many did when I cried “Foul!” in a small election for 1^st Ward Alderman in Rock Island County in 2005. Just ignore me when I tell you that you should stay tuned for further developments, because, and I quote Quad City Times Executive Editor Jan Touney from March 9^th’s paper (front page):  “It is well past time that the public know what is happening with the investigation involving the Rock Island County State’s Attorney.”

To that, I say “Amen,” and I would like to add, “And it is also high time that the public know the disposition of the case against former Rock Island County Clerk Richard “Dick” Leibovitz.

Either there is a big s***-storm coming from on high, with charges that will make headlines, or there’s a large pile of dirty Democratic dealings that date back to at least 1988 piling up under the carpet in Springfield.

In a fascinating article entitled “Plutocracy Now”, by Kevin Drum, that appeared in the March and April (2011) issue of Mother Jones, there’s enough food for thought to sink the hopes of middle America.

Discussing the fact that income inequality has grown dramatically since the mid seventies (and, no, it’s not all due to the increase in college graduates), the article does what all good investigator do: follows the money. To quote, “If politicians care almost exclusively about the concerns of the rich, it makes sense that over the past decades they’ve enacted policies that have ended up benefiting the rich.” (p. 22)

Noting that the  bottom 80% of wage-earners now loses, collectively, $743 billion every year, it follows that that the top 1% gain $673 billion and…you guessed it…that money is coming from we poor slobs at the bottom of the totem pole. Here’s a sobering but all-too-true quote: “The odds of experiencing a 50% drop in family income have more than doubled since 1970.”  It seems pretty obvious, to me, as I read the unemployment figures. Pensions are a thing of the past. 401(k) plans…where workers bear all the risks of the volatile stock market…are underfunded. Home foreclosures are up. Likewise, personal bankruptcies have increased. All these gloom-and-doom statistics, from Jacob Hacker’s book The Great Risk Shift are, as Mick Jagger famously put it, “enough to make a grown man cry.”

Within the article are some remarks about unions, especially telling in the light of the Cheddar Rebellion now underway in Madison, Wisconsin and—according to a “prank” phone call to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker—merely part of much larger plan to strip unions of their power to bargain collectively or the little guy. Says the “Mother Jones” article, “Unions, for better or worse, are history.”  The article goes on to say that even if private-sector unions increased from 7% to 10%, it wouldn’t be anywhere near enough to restore the power of the working and middle classes, which are being systematically stripped from them, through actions such as those we are seeing on our television set nightly, from the Land of the Cheeseheads.

There’s way more depressing stuff within the “Mother Jones” article (pick it up at your local newsstand…if it still exists after the bankruptcy of the Borders near you), but the final thought of the article is that the infrastructure of economic populism that the old Stallone film “F.I.S.T.” (set in Dubuque, Iowa) filmed for the ages back in the ’70s needs to be rebuilt and that “figuring out how to do that is the central task of the new decade.”

Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem in Denver at Invesco Field during the DNC.

Ever since Jennifer Hudson rocketed to stardom as an Academy Award winner for the 2006 film “Dreamgirls” (after having been cut from “American Idol” in 2004), she has embarked on a life journey that is no less remarkable than that of the fictional women of “Dreamgirls.”

If you tried to write a play with a heroine who is multi-talented but scorned by a nationwide viewing audience, but then comes back loud and proud, to win an Oscar, only to have her personal life reach epically tragic proportions when her mother, brother and nephew are all killed in Chicago by her sister’s estranged husband….well, let’s just say that people would say it is too far out to be true.

WEIGHT LOSS

If that weren’t enough drama, the 5’ 9” singer then embarked on a weight loss program as the spokesperson for “Weight Watchers” that has seen her shed 80 pounds. Her television ads now feature a slinky, sensuous, sexy young woman (Hudson was born in 1981).

PERSONAL LIFE

her personal life, she is engaged to Harvard Law School graduate and WWE wrestler (another unlikely combination) David Otunga. The two have an 18-month-old son, David Jr., born ten months after her family was nearly completely wiped out, in August of 2009.
Even Hudson, herself, says, “It’s like, ‘What’s gonna’ happen to the girl now?  Will she come back again? It’s like a movie, even to me.”

NEW FILM ROLE AS WINNIE MANDELA

Hudson is coming back to the big screen, and that is one of the reasons she worked so hard to lose the weight. She is playing Winnie Mandela, the 74-year-old former wife of Nelson Mandela.  These days, Winnie Mandela goes by the last name Madikizela-Mandela and serves as a member of South Africa’s parliament.  Winnie was married to Nelson in 1958 when she was 22. She had 2 daughters before he was sent to prison in 1963. The couple divorced in 1996, but, during the 27 years that Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, she was involved in many controversial situations, including charges of being a thief, an adulteress and a murderer. She was convicted of theft and fraud and kidnapping, in connection with the death of a 14-year-old boy…which also sounds too far-fetched to be “real life.” Says Jennifer Hudson of the role, “Half the country think she’s Satan. The other half think she’s the world’s greatest hero.

THE GRAMMYS

Musically, Hudson appeared on the Grammys recently as part of a tribute to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and she says, “If I was born in the ‘60s, I’d be right there with them.  Every song I do or film role I get seems to fall right back in that era.”

And she marvels…as I did after seeing her sing at Invesco Field in Denver when Obama was to speak before the huge crowd at the Democratic National Convention:”Ten years ago I was singing in Chicago theaters and living in my mom’s house. That’s all vanished.”

And, one could say, not all “vanished” in a good way. But much, now, is good and getting better.

NEW CD “I REMEMBER ME”

Of her new CD, “I Remember Me,” Hudson says she has returned to her soul-inspired roots and remarks that she “used to sing Aretha songs at the top of my lungs and drive my music teacher crazy.”

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