Blagojevitch is entitled to due process

No one will deny that Milorad Blagojevitch is in a heap load of trouble right now. That the FBI has been investigating him for quite some time is troubling in and of itself. He should be so radioactive that no one in their right mind should want to have anything to do with him.

However, politicians and those who aspire to politics may not necessarily be in their right mind. Therefore Roland Burris has accepted the appointment Blagojevitch has offered him.

Blagojevitch has not been convicted of the charges filed against him. He is clearly and undoubtedly presumed innocent at this time. Therefore, the appointment he filed must be accepted and honored. It is wrong for the Secretary of State of Illinois, Jesse White, to ignore his warrented duty to sign the appointment certificate. It is wrong for Roland Burris to be treated like a criminal and to be refused seating in the US Senate. This is simply the way our justice system works and we must uphold it, lest the slope of the decline of legal, personal and civil rights in our country steepen.

This position in no way makes and assumptions about the guilt or innocence of Blagojevitch. My personal opinion has no bearing on the matter. But from all I understand about the governing laws of our country, we as a nation, should all be speaking with the same voice and the same conviction. I am horrified to see how our politicians and media are behaving as though it were acceptable to presume Blagojevitch guilty. Shame on them!

That all having been said, should Blagojevitch be convicted of any of the charges filed against him, Roland Burris would then be in the uncomfortable position of having been appointed by someone who had been guilty of significant crimes. Those are not shoes in which I would ever wish to be. Mr. Burris should be just as aware of that potential outcome as all the rest of us are. With that assumption, it is mind-boggling that he even accepted the appointment.

But as I said, politicians and those with political aspirations have a different perspective on reality, which is why we, as a nation, must demand transparency and demand that our politicans and media uphold the fundamental principals of our nation.