It is worse than the Watergate years. It is worse than the Clinton scandals. Corruption in America at this very moment has reached critical mass. We are talking about financial and political wrongdoing, and here is just a partial list:
• Illinois Governor Blagojevich is about to be thrown out of office and could be indicted by the feds on corruption charges.
• Former head of the New York State Senate, Joseph Bruno, indicted by the feds on corruption charges.
• The head of the Massachusetts House, Sal DiMasi, the guy who blocked Jessica's law, has quit under pressure from a corruption investigation.
• Citigroup, nearly bankrupt and getting our tax dollars, orders a $50 million private jet, according to the New York Post.
• Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain gives his cronies millions in bonuses, all the while knowing his company is going down the drain. Then Thain allegedly spends more than a million bucks decorating his office. He was fired last week by the Bank of America, which took over Merrill.
• Former head of the bankrupt brokerage Lehman Brothers, Richard Fuld, sold his $13 million Florida home to his wife for $100.
The list goes on and on.
And then there's Barney Frank securing $12 million taxpayer dollars to prop up his favorite bank. You are not going to believe what this bank is doing.
Again, why is this happening? Simple answer is greed. Complicated answer is the failure of the feds to challenge financial fat cats in any meaningful way. That has allowed the crooks to become very bold.
Blagojevich is a great example of that. Here is a guy caught on a federal wiretap asking for stuff in return for appointing a person to take Barack Obama's Senate seat. But instead of defending himself at his own impeachment trial, he whines to the media:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You felt very proud about the job you did and were doing as governor and then December 9 happens and you are arrested. That had to be one heck of a day.
GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH: The day unfolded and I had a whole bunch of thoughts. Of course, my children and my wife. And then I thought about Mandela, Dr. King, Gandhi, and tried to put some perspective in all of this. Our 5-year-old went to my wife just the other day — Patti told me that she asked whether daddy was going to be governor on her birthday, which is April the 5th. And I think she sort of gave her sort of a broad answer. But if I were a betting man I would say I probably won't be. I think the fix is in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Yes, fix, I bet.
Well, "Talking Points" predicts Blagojevich will be gone by the end of the week, as there is no appeal if the impeachment conviction passes, which it will.
But will the feds then try him in criminal court? That means Obama's guys, like Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, would have to testify. Does the president want that headache? It will be interesting to see if the new attorney general, most likely Eric Holder, pursues the case.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Martial arts star Jackie Chan is a lively guy. Also a green guy. Chan was riding around in an electric vehicle, Segway's Go Green, to bring attention to a non-polluting way to get around. It's pretty nifty, huh? Now, since we want the cleanest planet possible, we believe Chan's a patriot.
Click here to watch "Pinheads & Patriots"!
On the pinhead front, the Beanie Baby outfit is selling dolls named Sasha and Malia, which are the names of the president's young daughters. Michelle Obama does not like that at all, saying it's inappropriate, and she's correct. The less attention on the kids, the better.
The Beanie Babies crew says the dolls are not based on the Obama children, which is absurd. So the Beanie Baby people are pinheads.
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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