Hoprah Before Civic Duty

A potential juror in the retrial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich noted on a jury questionnaire form that she had a conflict in serving because she had tickets to see Oprah Winfrey. Yes, she'll probably wind up on the jury. She's precisely the type of shallow-thinking people Blagojevich is counting on to set him free. The Sun-Times provides the exchange between the potential juror, a member of the local AFSCME union, and Judge Zagel:

“You don’t want to miss Oprah on May 10?” Judge James Zagel asked the woman.


Zagel asked if she had one ticket to attend the Oprah Winfrey Show, whose days in Chicago are numbered.

“Four tickets,” she corrected him.

Zagel didn’t indicate whether he’d suspend proceedings for the day in the event that the woman, who is a member of AFSCME Local 106, made the final cut and ended up on the jury.

She was one of more than half a dozen potential jurors who were questioned this morning, the second day of jury selection for the former governor’s retrial.

At this point, I'm hoping Blagojevich wins a full acquittal on the charges since our goverment has decided to pin all of the blame on him for corruption that included two principal co-conspirators, President Barack Obama and newly-elected Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who have been given a complete pass by the U.S. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's office for their criminal activity. Blagojevich committed no crimes those two did not also commit, so I'm not interested in seeing him take the rap for the culture of corruption that remains unchecked in the White House, Illinois State House and Chicago City Hall. Blagojevich was a bit player. We've seen enough of this circus act. Let's move along. Wake us all up when federal prosecutors plan to hold those truly responsible for all of the corruption emanating from the Windy City accountable.