Early Sunday News, Chicago Style

[Annie]

Jackson's absence testing patience in Chicago - Yahoo! News

Jackson's absence testing patience in Chicago
By SOPHIA TAREEN | Associated Press – 1 hr 6 mins ago

CHICAGO (AP) — His home in Washington is for sale. His wife says he'll come back to work only when a doctor approves. He vowed to return to the campaign by Labor Day, a deadline that came ... and went.

Election Day is five weeks away, and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. remains out of sight.

It's an absence, both from his job in Congress and his campaign, that's starting to test patience in his Chicago hometown.

More than three months have passed since Jackson disappeared, initially a mystery that was later revealed to be a hospitalization for severe depression and gastrointestinal problems. There have been few updates on his condition and no hard answers to questions about his future.

All that aides will say is that Jackson's name is still on the ballot, even though he's yet to make a campaign appearance since last spring's primary. His wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, has tried to say nothing at all. When pressed, she insists she won't step in to take his place...

He'll win in landslide. It's sick.

 

[waltky]

Annie posted: ...initially a mystery that was later revealed to be a hospitalization for severe depression and gastrointestinal problems.

My guess is severe ulcerative colitis which is a horrific and depressing disease...

... extreme weight loss is not uncommon...

... if he's had an ostomy operation, the attendant adjustment problems could account for the long absence.

 

[blastoff]

Even if he croaks the dead voters will reelect him. It's the Chicago way.

 

[OKTexas]

Fine, let them have the seat with no one voting, just keeps our majority larger. Hell I'd have gut problems if Jessie was my dad, can you imagine?

 

[waltky]

No wonder he's depressed...

Report: Jackson allegedly improperly used campaign money to decorate home
October 14, 2012 - U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s campaign finances are the subject of a federal probe after the congressman allegedly improperly used campaign money to decorate his home, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday night that a federal probe into the congressman centers on whether Jackson improperly used campaign money to decorate his home. The Chicago Sun-Times on Friday first reported that Jackson was under federal investigation, a probe that began before he took a leave from Congress in June to seek medical help. Ultimately, the Jacksons said he suffered from bipolar depression. The Sun-Times reported that the investigation was being handled out of Washington D.C. and was an entirely new area of scrutiny and did not involve the sale of the U.S. Senate seat — a case involving Rod Blagojevich where Jackson’s name repeatedly came up. Spokespeople representing Jackson were not talking on Sunday.

The Jacksons put their Washington, D.C., home on the market last month at a price of $2.5 million. The listing was public and included the property’s address as well as multiple photos of the inside of the home. A campaign spokesman said at the time that home was put on the market to pay for mounting medical bills. Though Jackson represents a congressional district in Chicago and his wife, Sandi, is a Chicago alderman — both primarily live in D.C. and send their children to a private school there. They also have a residence in Chicago. A day after the D.C. listing was made public, the couple subsequently took it back off the market, citing a security issue.

The revelation that Jackson is under federal scrutiny comes as questions have increasingly swirled around the congressman’s absence from his official duties in Washington and the campaign trail. Citing exhaustion, Jackson stopped working, according to his staff, on June 10. His staff did not make that known until two weeks later, however. He went to a clinic in Arizona then to the Mayo Clinic, which released a statement saying he was treated for bipolar depression. Jackson is up for reelection Nov. 6 but has not campaigned since he won the spring primary.

Source

 

[Mr. H.]

I was in his DC office last March. Tacky tastes.

 

[AceRothstein]

After redistricting, I now live in the Illinois 2nd District. I'll be voting for the GOP candidate for the first time in many years.

 

[CaféAuLait]

He is also under a new investigation by the FBI one which is different than the buying Obama's seat. Which strangly started JUST before he entered the hospital.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...ation-over-alleged-financial-improprieti.html

 

[Avatar4321]

And to think they were talking about selling him.. i mean giving him Obama's Senate Seat.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Just a thought... an opinion... a hunch... Wonder if he's really all that sick or could he be hiding out from the law for some particular reason? Stranger things have happened.

 

[waltky]

Guess dem blacks like taxation w/o representation...

Long-absent Jesse Jackson Jr. has big lead in new poll
10/22/12 - Despite being on medical leave since June and federal investigation...

A new poll has Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) with an overwhelming lead in the bid to keep his congressional seat, despite being on medical leave since June and amid reports that federal authorities are investigating him.

Fifty-eight percent of likely voters polled say they’ll vote for Jackson, while only 27 percent support his GOP opponent Brian Woodworth and 15 percent favor independent candidate Marcus Lucas, according to the We Ask America poll out Monday.

On Friday, it was reported that Jackson was planning to return to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to resume treatment for bipolar disorder. He had previously checked out of Mayo in September and returned to his Washington, D.C., residence.

Earlier last week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that federal prosecutors are investigating whether he misused campaign funds. The poll was conducted Sunday via telephone with 819 likely voters and has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.

Read more: Jesse Jackson Jr. has big lead in new poll - Kevin Cirilli - POLITICO.com

 

[waltky]

C. diff can cause ulcerative colitis...

'Faecal transplant' clue to treating gut bug
25 October 2012 - C. difficile bacteria live in many people's guts

The gut infection Clostridium difficile can be defeated by a cocktail of rival good bacteria, experiments in mice show. When C. difficile bacteria overwhelm the gut, it can be fatal and difficult to treat with antibiotics. A UK team showed a combination of six bacteria could clear the infection. The study, published in PLoS Pathogens, builds on faecal transplant procedures - which are used to introduce competing bacteria. C. difficile bacteria live in many people's guts alongside hundreds of other species - all fighting for space and food. However, a strong course of antibiotics can kill off C. difficile's competition. Numbers then explode, C. difficile dominates the gut and masses of toxins are produced. It results in diarrhoea and can be deadly.

The main treatment, antibiotics, is part of the problem. It means the condition can be difficult to get rid of and can affect patients again and again. Rarely, some patients have faecal transplants as a way of restoring the balance of bacteria in the gut. Material is taken from a donor, mixed with water, filtered and passed down a tube into the stomach. It is thought to be successful in about 90% of cases. However, even the only doctor in the UK to use the treatment, Dr Alisdair MacConnachie from the Gartnavel General Hospital in Glasgow, says its a last resort and quite frankly "disgusting".

'A tough bug'

In this latest study, researchers at the Sanger Institute, near Cambridge, tried to find exactly which bacteria in faecal transplants were needed to clear the infection. They grew bacteria from mouse faeces in the laboratory and tried different combinations of bacteria in infected mice. They found a combination of six, including three previously unidentified species, did the trick. The super-six cocktail cleared the infection in all 20 infected mice given the oral treatment. Crucially the bacteria can be grown in the lab without needing a fresh sample for each transplant.

More BBC News - 'Faecal transplant' clue to treating gut bug