Author Archive | Jim Lindgren

Under both Presidents Bush and Obama, we are generating and are likely to generate huge increases in our national debt. There are two steps that can be taken to reduce the negative impact of this excessive spending, the first of which is quite doable politically. 1. Refinance the federal debt with long-term bonds at low […]

Obama claimed Tuesday:

From Katie Granju’s comments and Instapundit comes a link to this Nov. 5 news story, reporting that “[Obama]’s meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich this afternoon in Chicago to discuss” his Senate replacement. If Obama is telling the truth, then this Nov. 5 story is wrong: Who will fill Obama’s senate seat?: Ill. governor meeting with […]

ABC is reporting that its sources say that Senate Candidate 5 is Jesse Jackson, Jr., not Emil Jones (tip to Powerline). Senate Candidate 5 is the only one whose supporters come off badly in the government’s complaint, though of course the complaint reflects things from Blagojevich’s point of view.

Most people have misunderstood the timeline of the Blagojevich Senate scandal. Pretty much everything fits except Barack Obama’s statement yesterday that he knew nothing about it. If we didn’t have Obama’s denial to contend with, the actions of all the parties, including those purporting to speak for Obama, are consistent with Obama and his staff […]

Speculation is rampant in Illinois and in the blogosphere over the identity of the unnamed characters in the affidavit supporting the complaint. 1. Advisor A and Advisor B Some have wondered whether David Axelrod is Advisor A or Advisor B. This strikes me as highly unlikely. Advisor A is described in the affidavit supporting the […]

Here are the government allegations that reference Blagojevich

I’ve been trying to sort out in my mind what SEIU’s involvement might be. Here are the main SEIU-related allegations of facts supporting the government’s complaint: 109. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with SEIU Official, who was in Washington, D.C. Prior intercepted phone conversations indicate that approximately a week before this call, ROD […]

A portion of the criminal complaint against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is on Smoking Gun. I

When I read Philip Hamburger

In my fourth selection from the introduction of Philip Hamburger

In my third selection from the introduction of Philip Hamburger

In my second selection from the introduction of Philip Hamburger

The best law book I read this year is Philip Hamburger

The NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) has declared an official recession that started with January 2008’s decline. Some of the press has been incorrectly reporting that, according to the NBER, the recession is now over a year old. This is a misunderstanding of how the NBER reports, in part fueled by the NBER