Slobo and Blago. Heard a story yesterday about then Congressman Rod Blagojevich accompanying Rev. Jesse Jackson and other religious leaders to Belgrade in 1999 for a meeting with Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to try to gain the release of US soldiers captured by Serbian forces during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia over Kosovo. Jackson gave a long impassioned speech, and then turned to Blagojevich, introducing the then only Serbian-American member of Congress as his "homeboy." "What is 'homeboy?'" Milosevic asked. The speeches came to a halt. The translators were perplexed. They filed out of the ceremonial rooms to work on translating the unfamiliar word. After a while they returned and one said, "'Homeboy' is a person from your village or town." The negotiations went on (and the captured US soldiers were released).

This on Jackson-Blagojevich family and fundraiser ties interesting too.

Posted by Laura at December 12, 2008 11:11 AM