PLEASE MAKE A CASH CONTRIBUTION – AT 6:22 P.M. ET:  I know that all of you will have your checkbooks out by the time you finish this story about the latest act of unfairness toward an Illinois politician:

SPRINGFIELD — Ex-Gov. George Ryan won't get to collect his state pension as he sits in an Indiana federal prison, a decision his attorney former Gov. Jim Thompson called "deeply disappointing" because the once-affable cigar-smoking old-school Republican "has nothing."

Hilarious if it weren't so sad:  One governor is lawyer for another.  Nothing like an intimate club to warm the heart.  And now the facts:

But Ryan already has raked in $635,000 from Illinois taxpayers in the three-plus years between his retirement and his major political corruption conviction, a top pension official said. Ryan also got a refund of $235,500 when his pension was taken away — the amount of personal contributions he made during his more than 30 years in public office.

Please note that this is the Illinois political class's definition of "nothing."

The pension payments run counter to the sympathetic image Thompson is trying to cultivate for Ryan, who turns 76 on Wednesday, faces at least three more years in prison and is hoping President Barack Obama will grant his request for freedom.

Now watch.  Obama will seek legal advice from Bill Clinton.  Uh, wait, Clinton was disbarred.  Eric Holder?  Uh, no, Eric can't get anything right and wants to try terrorists in New York neighborhoods.  Janet Reno?  Well...no, she's too creepy to be alive. 

I know:  The president should go to that law firm that advertises low rates on TV.  What is it?  Legal Zoom dot com?  He'll probably do a lot better there.

Of course, he could contact someone who's a real expert on the inner workings of Illinois politics.  But they're all in jail.

I'd love to see how this turns out.

February 20,  2010