Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Burris Dogfight

Minutes ago, I overheard a young businessman make the comment: "He's seventy-one years old and they should go ahead and let him finish the two years left. It's not all that serious anyway." As to whether we have a dog in that fight arises from the current (and hopefully very temporary) battle by Burris' inability to capture President-elect Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat yesterday in Washington. Secretary of the Senate, Nancy Erickson rejected his certification, as he knew she would, saying it lacked Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White's signature and the state seal. Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid had said, "Mr. Burris is not in possession of the necessary credentials from the state of Illinois." I contend that we do have a dog in that fight. In summary, cost to the taxpayers and race relations are at the root of our concern. What is the cost to the public to have our political machine gummed up with egotistical individuals impeding the state appointment process. Are our politicians practicing the political conduct we are to experience during the Obama administration already? I hope not. California Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, which judges the credentials of senators, rejected the reasoning that all of the chamber's Democrats, herself included, had cited in a letter last week — that corruption charges against Burris' patron, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, tainted his appointment, saying "If you don't seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America." With respect to race relations...there should be some concerns. By the way, the only African-American (black) Senators to serve in the United States are as follows: Hiram Rhodes Revels - Serving from February 23, 1870 – March 3, 1871 Blanche Kelso Bruce - Serving from March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1881 Edward William Brooke, III - Serving from January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1979 Carol Moseley Braun - Serving from January 5, 1993 – January 3, 1999 Barak Hussein Obama II - Serving from January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008 Incidentally, all the aforementioned (black) Senators that have served were Republicans, except for Senators Braun and Obama (and they are both from the State of Illinois). Mr. Burris has an impressive background, as we would expect, if he is to fill the position of (Junior) Senator from State of Illinois. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had some of his most frustrating civil rights battles in Illinois (Abernathy later wrote that they received a worse reception (in Chicago) than they had in the South). To: Mr. Roderick P. Miles, CEO of RPM Group, Inc. Thanks for your valuable input and insight. Yes, we have a dog in that fight!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

And it’s Thursday, January 08, 2009 – two days after Burris attempted to be seated as Jr. Senator from the State of Illinois and was blocked, because he was “not in possession of the necessary credentials from the state of Illinois”. There is no mention of it in the AJC today. Is it being swept under the rug?

We’re now finding out that Secretary of State, Jesse White, incidentally the first black elected Secretary of State, feels he’s been unfairly blamed for holding things up. They could have sworn Burris in even without his signature.

So once again, the brother was used as the “fall guy” and thrown under the bus…

Yes, WE have a dog in that fight…

Mr. Logic said...

Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with a police officer. He was not just a regular police man but an officer at the Jonesboro K9 unit. And we talked about dogs, every thing from pure blood lines to fighting. Based on his knowledge and his relationship with his K9, 'HULK' he stated that a dog that was bread and trained to do fight was a total different animal from dogs from your regular pet dogs. He went on to say that most dogs, with the exception of police and fighting dogs, that are in pursuit of a prey will immediately discontinue the attack if the prey or victim counters the attack or chase away that dog. He said 'fighting' dogs will instinctively react by escalating the attack, and that their mind set is to destroy or be destroyed.
On the contrary I think that 'the dog in that fight' has the instinct to kill or be killed.