Month: January 2008

Face Of The Day

Griffinmattcardygetty

Miner Stuart Griffin laughs as he leaves the mine after the final shift at the Tower Colliery in Hirwaun, near Merthyr Tydfill on January 25 2008 in Wales, United Kingdom. The Cynon Valley pit is one of the oldest continuously-worked mines in the world and the last deep mine in Wales. Tower is the only colliery within the once-thriving South Wales coalfield to drain all its coal resources and hit the headlines in 1994 when it was subject to a miners buy-out of the deep mine – after it had been closed by the then Conservative Government. By Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

Evita!

A reader writes:

Regardless of the family last name, I’m a Latin American woman —

The Billary syndrome does indeed bring to mind Evita — among some more recent and current others.  And that’s not a good thing by and large.   (And also some lesser known pols that were big in the day in my original hemisphere — Carlos Lacerda.)

I am intoxicated now with my own rage over this situation.  It seems my mind is consumed — Clintonericthayergetty How could the Clintons do this to us at this stage of the game?  And then it comes to me:  I’m being screwed — and there seems to be NO recourse — and then more comes to me.  And, suddenly, I’m reminded of why the 90s were so heady and so nasty … It wasn’t just that the Clintons were about ME ME ME — It’s that entire culture was a ME ME ME.  It’s no wonder so many of us went nuts at the time — and we did — and lo and behold — Here we are again. This pair has not only gotten into Obama’s brain. They are back with a vengeance in my own wobbly head. Obama is better equipped to deal — for sure.  He’s become my political restraining order. After almost 8 years of misery, I am looking to the dark side — the Repubs are looking better and better!

Whether it’s pot, or sex, or ambition or whatever —  The Clintons seem to epitomize doing the nasty without ever going for the full blown, flat out joy of the nasty. And then they take you with them because the alternative seems even less desirable. They want it not both ways but all ways and then seemingly always on top of all that.  I feel ill.  And like a fool.

And I hardly know what to do with my vote.  I feel, dare I say it, violated?

(Photo: Eric Thayer/Getty.)

A Constitutional Question

A reader writes:

Here’s something else to consider: elected officials and government employees are all subject to ethics rules and regulations. Public officials, and even their employees (including executive branch appointees, congressional staffers and civil servants), take an oath to "support and defend the Constitution" and to "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter."

Unless I’m wrong, the spouse of the president has no such requirements. The spouse is neither elected nor employed nor appointed, so adheres to no ethical rules or oaths of office. So, it stands to reason that we could soon have a very powerful and influential first spouse (who may even be called to serve as a roving goodwill ambassador to the world, as Sen. Clinton mentioned previously), who is, technically, unaccountable to anyone and unconstrained by any rule or oath.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean that the former president would abuse his position. But it does leave us with a situation open to abuse.

Quote For The Day III

"Are we the country we say we are? Are we the country that holds certain truths to be self-evident, words which incidentally were written by a 33-year-old named Thomas Jefferson. You know, are we the country that judges people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin — words that were written by Martin Luther King when he was about 34 years old," – John Kerry, National Journal.

Does anyone think that Jefferson was too inexprienced when he wrote that phrase?