Reported cases of sexual trafficking in the United States are horrifying and, unfortunately, not uncommon. In recent years, our federal courts have heard cases involving a group of Thai women - promised good-paying restaurant jobs - forced into prostitution upon their arrival in New York; a group of Mexican teenagers - told they would be working as waitresses and child- and elder-care workers - held in sexual slavery in Florida and the Carolinas; a syndicate of smugglers and pimps who brought hundreds of Asian women (some as young as 13) into the United States, forcing them to work as prostitutes - and making them live in bondage - until their "contracts" were paid off.

It was disheartening last week to see the East Moline city council so eager for jobs that it lost all common sense and self-respect. On December 19 - just six days before Christmas and after less than three weeks of public deliberation - the council voted unanimously to approve a development agreement with Triumph Foods, which plans to build a $135-million hog-processing facility in the city.

I was told a few weeks ago by a very good source that Governor Rod Blagojevich's campaign had assigned people to monitor my blog. You may know that besides this weekly newspaper column I publish a daily political newsletter called Capitol Fax.

Editor's note: The Isle of Capri's application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its riverfront-hotel and casino-relocation project has triggered a public-comment period that ends on Thursday, December 22.