Blagojevich makes wise use of veto

Given the intense criticism that has been lobbed at Gov. Rod Blagojevich of late, it would probably have been a lot easier for him to just quietly sign Senate Bill 1463 a bill that would have required each public school classroom in the state to begin each day with a moment of silence.

After all, the General Assembly took the easy way out in passing the bill. Legislators know that it is a lot easier for political opponents to put out campaign pamphlets questioning their "moral values" than it is to explain why they would oppose what amounts to forced school prayer. We applaud the governor for not taking the easy way out and instead vetoing this unneeded and unwise mandate.

Beyond Hollywood

If you were a Hollywood scriptwriter, could you even make up the sitcom that Illinois state government has become?

Dysfunction is funny, of course, until it just becomes pathetic. We'd suggest Springfield is approaching that latter threshold at breakneck speed, what with the governor slicing and dicing parts of the budget and suing the speaker of the House and precipitating a constitutional showdown following the longest foray into fiscal folly in the state's history.

First, the governor left his own mark of Zorro on the budget, taking his veto pen -- the Blade of Blago -- to $463 million in legislative largesse, not to tame the overspending but to make room for his own. Did the governor's alter ego wear a mask in exacting his revenge? It is a masterwork of bipolarity.

Indeed, House Democrats and Senate Republicans alike endured his wrath. If the purchase of a handicapped-accessible van in one legislative district was pork, in another it was just perfect. If the governor needs half a billion bucks for his own health-care initiative, he'd get part way there by chopping away at other health care initiatives -- specifically $90 million in Medicaid funding for hospitals and nursing homes. Military veterans and social service providers found their requests trumped by Illinois' overriding need for a volleyball court and larger folk music center, among other playthings.