KING HARRY SAYS "HE’S NOT WELCOME" (UPDATE 1X) Burris Stopped by “Paperwork”

~~By American Lassie

It isn’t very often that I find anything amusing in the news anymore, but I find the situation in Chicago very entertaining and I am loving every minute of it.

Governor Blagojevich of Illinois has the bull by the horns and he is not letting go.

By appointing Roland Burris to the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama he has that opportunistic bunch of Illinois (and Washington) Democrats all reaching for their Immodium AD.  They all have their bowels in an uproar.

Especially Bobby Rush, Lt. Governor Quinn, and both Jacksons – Sr. and Jr.

Bobby Rush has started playing the race card, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn is salivating for the Governor’s job, and both Jacksons are in a frenzy over just what exactly is in those tapes that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is holding.

A filing from Fitzgerald’s office requesting an extension of the time to prepare the case against the governor states “The government has been conducting a diligent and thorough investigation in this case, but the investigation includes multiple defendants and potential defendants.”

Patrick Fitzgerald says more time is needed because of the complexity of the corruption case against the Illinois governor who was arrested on a criminal complaint. Fitzgerald’s office said “multiple witnesses have come forward in recent weeks to discuss their knowledge of criminal activity.”

Everybody is getting nervous.  Illinois Secretary of State, Jesse White,  says he will not sign the requisite papers to approve the appointment of Roland Burris, or of any other person Gov. Blagojevich might appoint.  Harry Reid says that any appointment by Gov. Blagojevich would be tainted by fraud and would not be seated by the Senate.  His words pertaining to Roland Burris appearing in the Senate – “HE IS NOT WELCOME.”
King Harry is forgetting that in America you are presumed innocent until found guilty.  Until there is a trial and he is found guilty Rod Blagojevich is still the legal governor and entitled to make appointments and sign legal papers.

A Constitutional fight could loom over Roland Burris’ appointment.  The fight may go to the Supreme Court as Burris intends to fight for his right to the seat he has been appointed to by Gov. Blagojevich.

Under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, governors alone have the power to appoint a replacement to complete the term of senators who are expelled, resign, or die.

AMENDMENT XVII (1913)

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any state in the Senate, the executive authority of such state shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of any state may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

The governor’s power to fill vacancies is granted by Illinois election law.  If the legislature writes a new law and takes that power away from him, Blagojevich could VETO the legislation to remove his appointment power.  CATCH 22 !!!

“The governor has the Constitutional and statutorial authority to make the appointment,” Burris said.  “We are certainly going to make contact with the leadership of the Senate to let them know that the Governor of Illinois has made a legal appointment, and that I am currently the Junior Senator  from the state of Illinois”.

Harry Reid is twisting the Constitution to make it sound as though the Senate has the right to deny anyone they wish.  Not so:

Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution gives Congress the  power to be “judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members.”

Article 1, Section 3 says “no person shall be senator who shall not have been attained to the age of 30 years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States.”

Roland Burris meets all those qualifications and has been a life-long citizen of the State of Illinois.  He is 71 years old.

Harry Reid says it is not about Mr. Burris, but about Rod Blagojevich’s integrity.  Senate leadership spokesman Jim Manley said,  “This is like judging the integrity of an election, free from fraud and corruption.”  GIVE ME A BREAK !!!!!!  Free from fraud and corruption?  After this past election cycle, he has the nerve to say that?

Trying to thwart Mr. Burris from being seated in the senate because of their opinion of Gov. Blagojevich is like (in Mr. Burris’ words) comparing apples and oranges.

In 1967 the House of Representatives refused to seat Adam Clayton Powell, D-NY, during a corruption investigation.  The Supreme Court weighed in on the side of Mr.Powell stating  “The house is without power to exclude any member-elect who meets the Constitution’s requirements for membership.”

The Illinois State Supreme Court refused to grant Lisa Madigan’s (Illinois  Attorney General) attempt to stifle the governor’s authority.  As long as he hasn’t been tried and convicted it is his duty to perform the duties of an elected governor (which he is).  And the  duty now before the Governor of Illinois is to appoint a member to the seat vacated by Barack Obama (which he has).

In Chicago’s Oakwoods Cemetery Burris has erected a granite mausoleum listing his many accomplishments, including being the state’s first African-American Attorney General  and the state’s first African-American Comptroller.

The Illinois House has bumped up its schedule and will meet several days this week.  A spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (father of the Secretary of State Lisa Madigan) says the chamber may vote on a recommendation from the special committee studying whether Blagojevich should be impeached.

The Democrats (once the party I supported) are in a pickle; there’s Minnesota (decided but facing lawsuits), New York and Illinois, bringing their dream of a 60-seat majority into sight.  They thought they had their hand-picked members all line up and now they are hoisted by their own petard.  The rejected the idea of a special election to replace Obama in Illinois and now it seems the governor has more guts than they thought and their plans have gone astray.  He has outfoxed the foxes, and I am enjoying every minute of it.

I hold no sympathy for Blagojevich if he is guilty of the things they say he is guilty of, but I say let the courts play out their hand and let’s see the evidence.  In the meantime he is still the governor with all the powers of a governor and, as I said, if they pass a law in the Illinois Legislature, as governor he has the right to veto it.

I know nothing about Roland Burris other than what I have read and heard recently.  He seems to have a clean record of accomplishments by all accounts, except by the Chicago Tribune and I wouldn’t  put much stake in anything they have to say.

I think it is very suspicious that they pulled the rug out from under Fitzgerald before he was ready to take action.

What goes around comes around, and it’s about time some people got hit by the boomerang.

***

NOTES:

Burris Drama Plays out as Senate Set to Begin Work (January 4)

Reid said he expected to meet with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Monday evening in hopes “we can solve this issue on a bipartisan basis.” Reid added, “I’m on old trial lawyer. There’s always room to negotiate.”

(Negotiating with the Republican Senate leader?  WHY???? Other than to screw a Democrat who isn’t in the Obama crowd??)

Cornyn rips Reid on Blago calls (January 3)

Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee get into the act…

document.write(cnnRenderTimeStamp(1231194131650,[‘January 5, 2009 — Updated 2222 GMT (0622 HKT)’,’updated 5:22 p.m. EST, Mon January 5, 2009′]));

UPDATE 1

Secretary of Senate rejects Burris, aide says

(CNN) — Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson has rejected Roland Burris’ appointment to the Senate, an aide to the secretary told CNN.

Erickson rejected Burris’ appointment because his certificate of appointment was missing the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, the aide said Monday.

Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate states that the secretary of state must sign the certificate of election along with the governor. (MORE)

The Past Week: Recaps & Random Thoughts, October 12-18 (A Fond Farewell; Polls and Polling Methods; Odinga Video; Fitzerald, Clintons, RICO?; Body Language and Obama the Hypnotist; Chicago; Greens!…3-Parter on ‘Independent Thinking’)

~~Posted by InsightAnalytical-GRL

A personal note…

I received sad news this week that a person I had been writing to since 2001 passed away after a long illness. Sharon and I “met” after she wrote to me about something I had written for Buzzflash. Sharon was just about to marry Ian and move to Europe at the time we started corresponding. Over the years she and Ian  became long-distance friends.  Sharon and I both loved cooking, dogs, and politics, and I will miss her frequent, long email letters describing the political situation in the UK and how the U.S. scene was being reported there… To Ian, I extend my deepest condolences and a hope that we will be staying in touch…

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Polls, Polls, Polls…

Polls are on everyone’s minds these days and I came across a couple of interesting articles to highlight.

First, here’s a discussion detailing a discussion with a purported internal pollster for Obama: Conversations with an internal pollster for Obama…

From the GOP side, a blogger did a very interesting overview on the polls at “Blogs for John McCain” under the title Obama’s Lead Crumbling, an Electoral Guide, which was posted on Thursday, October 16. Although things might not be crumbling at this point, the analysis is worth a look.

This week we we learned that Gallup is now using a different polling model which Uppity Woman discussed in detail (also posted by No Quarter). A post I wrote in July about polling methods which is now even more relevant.  As a matter of full disclosure, I was a study director at the “original” Gallup before it was sold; George Gallup, Sr., the founder of the company, was still active and Andy Kohut, who now runs Pew Research Center, was the President.  It’s sort of a “primer on polling.”  See: Musings on Pollsters: Confessions of a Former Gallup Study Director…(Updated 2X)

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Can’t let the week go by without a mention of Raila Odinga.  For some reason, the posts I wrote about him months ago have been percolating the last couple of weeks.  Here’s a link to a very powerful video which uses news clips to present a graphic portrayal of Odinga, his followers and the violence following the 2007 election, his political roots, and his relationship with Barack Obama. It is definitely something to pass around to as many people as possible.

*****

In case you missed this…from The Wall Street Journal’s “Market Watch” Community…an intriguing post about the Clintons vs. ACORN-Obama.  Is it true? Who knows?…but it IS intriguing…

Clintons File RICO Suit Against Obama – ACORN Stole the Nomination Too!

According to this post, Patrick Fitzgerald on the case.

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Our source in federal courts said, “Any crime that involves more than two people and is carried out across state lines qualifies as a corrupt organization. The fact that those “Goodwill” donations were made in Texas and received at Obama headquarters in Chicago or Washington means it qualifies for RICO.”

The “Goodwill donations” referred to above are the $228 million in undocumented, unverified campaign contributions the Obama camp has received — which the McCain campaigned filed a complaint to the FEC on this past Monday.

We’ve also heard that the Clinton campaign filed complaints to the FBI and other federal agencies over Obama’s fraud in the Iowa, Texas and other caucuses: voter intimidation, registration fraud, and other illegal activities.

The last thing we were told tonight in regards to all of this was that “the memo here is a tying together of all these various threads. That’s what you will see in the last weeks of the campaign: all things being tied together”.

If everything rumored here is true, it looks like David Axelrod, Howard Dean, Donna Brazile, Obama himself, and possibly even Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were all involved, together, in massive RICO violations, and thus federal fraud, if the DNC and party leadership knew what the Obama campaign and ACORN were up to and allowed it to proceed. Knowledge of federal crimes being committed makes all parties accessories to those crimes — and part of the conspiracy to defraud the public.

Boy, wouldn’t that be something if all this were true?

***

Tonight (Saturday) I’ve seen an ad running on The History Channel from the Republican Congressional Committee and John McCain…a joint ad. Topic?  Taxpayers money going to Rezko, headlines about corrupt Obama ties, Congressional Democrats featuring a lineup of Reid, Pelosi, and Barney Frank, and a parting message about the average guy being taxed so more money gets into the hands of the Democratic Congress. Threads are being connected in this ad.

I watched The History Channel program called “Secrets of Body Language.” The commentators “swooned” over Obama’s voice…a commentor saying he’s so “powerful” a speaker that “the words become irrelevant.” They followed Obama with a segment on McCain, who, they said, speaks in a manner “exactly opposite” — more like a “technician” and with sincerity.  Remember just before the NH primary when Hillary showed emotion? Well, guess what? The experts were split on whether it was real or coached…

And here’s something else to ponder…Obama’s use of hypnosis techniques. I became certified in hypnosis and what’s in this piece sounds entirely plausible to me…

***

Finally, I caught most of “Chicago” on IFC tonight…a great flick and it was really funny to hear Richard Gere “tapping dancing” on the subject of Chicago corruption. One great line from Gere’s character–“This is Chicago, kid–You can’t beat fresh blood on the wall.” The whole picture seemed so…current.

***

This week in the fall garden–finally got my arugula, pak choi, and more chard seeds planted. The mustard is growing rapidly.  Haven’t seen a hummingbird for a few days. The nights are getting pretty chilly, so soon I’ll be putting up the plastic “greenhouse.”

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THIS WEEK’S POSTS

*By Grail Guardian

**By  kenosha Marge

***By American Lassie

*Part 3-Independent Thinking: STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Part 2–Independent Thinking: THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY/LATRINE NEEDS THE TY-D-BOL MAN

**Part 1–Independent Thinking: PARTISAN NO MORE

2001 Article from Chicago’s Community News Project (Funded by Woods Fund) Mentions Obama under “Organizing and Islam” Section

***Shakespeare, Warlocks and Barack Obama…(UPDATE 1X)

*Announcing the End of the “PC” ERA

The Past Week: Recaps & Random Thoughts, October 5-11 (Cloward-Piven, Mortgage Connections w/Charts; ACORN ad; Uh-Oh-Ohio; Musings on Middle Names; Slaughtering Sarah; Feeling Prickly)