Hypocrisy, Thy Name is....Blagojevich...Burris...

Impeachment in The United States...from Wikipedia

Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature which allows for formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for conduct committed in office. The actual trial on those charges, and subsequent removal of an official on conviction on those charges is separate from the act of impeachment itself: impeachment is analogous to indictment in regular court proceedings, trial by the other house is analogous to the trial before judge and jury in regular courts. Typically, the lower house of the legislature will impeach the official and the upper house will conduct the trial.

At the federal level, Article Two of the United States Constitution (Section 4) states that "The President, Vice President, and all other civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors." The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching, while the United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. The removal of impeached officials is automatic upon conviction in the Senate.

Impeachment can also occur at the state level; state legislatures can impeach state officials, including governors, according to their respective state constitutions.

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Let's see...You have an impeached, tainted Governor of Illinois...That would be Gov. Rod Blagojevich...who appointed, while in the process of impeachment, a new African-American Illinois Senator in place of President-Elect Obama's vacated Senate position...That would be the 'scrupulous' Roland Burris...

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Definitions of scrupulous on the Web:

having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong; principled; "less scrupulous producers sent bundles that were deceptive in appearance"
conscientious: characterized by extreme care and great effort; "conscientious application to the work at hand"; "painstaking research"; "scrupulous attention to details"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Exactly and carefully conducted; Having scruples or compunctions
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulous

scrupulously - with extreme conscientiousness; "he came religiously every morning at 8 o'clock"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

scrupulousness - conformity to high standards of ethics or excellence
scrupulousness - meticulousness: strict attention to minute details
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Scrupulosity is obsessive concern with one's personal sins, including "sinful" acts or thoughts usually considered minor or trivial within their religious tradition. The term is derived from the Latin scrupulus, a sharp stone, implying a stabbing pain on the conscience.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrupulosity

scrupulousness - The property of being scrupulous; The result or product of being scrupulous
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulousness

scrupulously - In a careful manner, with scruple; done with careful attention to detail
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulously

diligent, thorough and attentive to detail

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Perhaps I am being 'overly scrupulous' by including all these partly similar, partly different definitions of 'scrupulous' when the only one we really need is the first one....

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having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong;

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So Roland Burris is on record as saying that Blagojevich's behavior is 'apalling' (I think that was the word that he used...)

However, obviously Burris does not believe that Blagojevich's appointment choice of Senator was/is 'appalling' because Burris feels strongly that he is 'legally entitled' to this Illinois Senator position. He felt strong enough about this 'entitlement' that he was willing to walk into The U.S. Senate when he knew that most of the Senators there did not think he was entitled to the position because he was appointed by a 'tainted, uncredible -- if not incredible -- soon-to-be-impeached Governor of Illinois, the aforementioned unscrupulous Rod Blagojevich.

Are you following all of this?

And then you have a number of African-American political commentators on CNN who somehow believe that Rodney Burris is, indeed, entitled to the Illinois Senator position because there are, as of right now, absolutely no African-American Senators in the U.S. Senate...

Are you still following?

Which seems to suggest that it wouldn't matter if Blagojevich himself were going to the American Senate -- just as long as he was 'African-American'.

With all due respect, the 'race' issue has nothing to do with the Blagojevich-Burris issue. Not to mention, regarding the CNN commentators, hopefully we have not regressed back to the whole 'affirmative action' idea of the 1990s -- complete with 'preferential treatment', 'special rights', 'reverse discrimination', 'political correctness' to suppress any type of democratic talk about 'reverse-inequalities' -- and 'tokenism'.

I would like to think that the African-American political commentators on CNN got to where they are now career-wise by the 'strength and the merit' of their 'intellect, their education, their logic, their analytic abilities, and their ability to think quickly on their feet' -- not because they were/are 'token' African-Americans. Please! Let's not go there -- or go back there. I certainly did not support and promote Obama in my blogs here because he was a 'token' African-American. I supported and promoted him because I believe -- and still believe -- in the superiority and the sincerity of his rhetoric and his belief in 'multi-cultural integrationism'; not where the Republicans went in their election campaign with their 'two colored and inferred/implied ethnic-relgious-racial deivisionism'.

I don't care what color an American Senator is -- again, black, brown, white, yellow, or blue, it doesn't matter to me -- but I still believe in the 'merit' system. The American people -- whatever color, sex, and/or ethnic group they may be -- do not need 'token' Senators. They need scrupulous Senators. And neither Blagojevich -- nor his tainted appointee, Roland Burris -- qualify as scrupulous.

I thought that much of the last American election was built around Obama's assertion that he would reduce if not eliminate corruption, lobbyism, kickbacks, etc. from The White House and The Senate. What, now Obama is going to stand helplessly by -- even when he has publicly stated that Burris should not be going to The American Senate -- while the man is 'accepted' into the Senate for and by other political and legal means and reasons? What is this? More tainted, corrupted supposed democracy?

If you believe that a Governor's behavior is 'corrupt' and 'appalling' but you suddenly 'repent' -- have a 'change of heart' -- and 'respect' the Governor's behavior if he comes out of nowhere and chooses you to be the next Illinois Senator, especially when you have been shown to have a history of 'losing elections' -- well, I would call that behavior rather 'hypocritical'...Wouldn't you?

If a Governor's behavior is stated to be so 'corrupt', 'appalling', 'repugnant'...by verbal report, witnesses, and/or whatevever other allegedly strong evidence that there seems to be readily available to impeach Blagojevich (already been done) and send him to a Senate trial that will probably 'evict him' from his Governor's position -- wouldn't that seem to make all of Governor Blagojevich's behavior after the start of this process -- including his appointment of Burris as the new 'pseudo' - Illinois Senator -- wouldn't that put this decision, this appointment, into the 'highly tainted and suspect, not to mention uncredible and incredible' category?

What's wrong with this political soap opera?

Well, let's start with this...

In most sports leagues, a player who has committed an 'appalling behavior' is immediately 'suspended from action indefinitely'...until at least a hearing with the league Commissioner...at which point a 'further suspension' is usually handed down for either a short, or long, or permanent duration, depending on the nature of the infraction.

This is not including whatever 'team discipline' is imposed on the offending player.

The NHL -- and The Dallas Stars -- did a much faster and more efficient job of getting rid of Sean Avery (hopefully permanently) than the American political and legal system seems to be able to get rid of the blatant, open corruption -- and the men and/or women -- seen and heard by The American people as being responsible for it, and/or tainted by it.

I think this whole incident is showing both The American Government and The American People loud and clear that it is time to re-work the whole 'impeachment' process -- meaning both 'speed it up please, speed it up' -- and/or more importantly -- include the action of 'suspension of all Governor duties indefinitely' (meaning til the end of the impeachment trial).

Then we wouldn't all be looking at, and experiencing, this political and legal soap opera-fiasco -- this embarrasment and mockery -- of the American Political and Judicial System.

Furthermore, we wouldn't have to listen to either Blagojevich or Burris preaching 'scruples' from their respective hypocritical political platforms -- unless, that is, either of them wants to actually try to run for another election.

It might actually be fun to see them both use their own private 'campaign money' from their own private bank accounts.

Somehow I don't think they would be able to get too many more 'public donors'.

But they could try.

It's the American Democratic Way -- good, bad, and ugly.

The 'impeachment process' and perhaps even 'Governors apointing Senators' needs fixing.

-- dgbn, January 9th, 2008.

David Gordon Bain