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Saturday, August 09, 2008

Well, Now, The Question Must Be Asked

You know how any time a woman runs for higher office, say like for the President, there’s all these snide remarks about how, Oh, she couldn’t possibly be President, she’s too emotional or flighty or suffers from raging hormones and in a fit of PMS would hit the red button and blow the world up, and so forth?

Well, now we really have to ask the unasked question: Are men fit for higher elective office? Or do they all have problems with their zippers, you know, a hormonal thing that renders them helpless slaves to raging erectile function that shuts off the blood supply to the brain. Talk about hitting the red button and blowing the world up.

So, once again, we get the sorry spectacle of some guy doing the weenie perp walk, humiliated wife and kiddies standing by his side, claming, Aw, My BAD! And pretending that what he suffered from was a “serious error in judgement.”

In this case, the weenie walker is Senator John Edwards. And it’s apparently clear that his “error in judgment” wasn’t referring to his affair in 2006, it was having an affair in 2006 and THEN deciding to run for president.

That’s not an “error” in judgment. That’s a grotesque, breathtaking, utter LACK of judgment. Not to mention a stunningly large supply of hypocrisy. I mean, remember the moving testimonials to his courageous little wife, who is battling cancer, the weepy parading of his dead kid during his recitations of how much he loved his family. His being asked about marital fidelity and saying, “It’s fundamental to how you judge people.” Ah, yes, it fairly touched the heart, it did.

Well, Mr. Edwards, meet Mr. Eliot Spitzer, meet Mr. Bill Clinton, meet Mr. . . . . .

And I gotta ask again: Are men fundamentally unfit to hold any high office because are they so subject to overwhelming, mindless zipper attacks at unpredictable times that they simply can’t be depended on to keep their eye on the ball . . . the nuclear one, that is?

And Now, It Must Be Asked, Part Duh

Mr. Bruce E. Ivins, the microbiologist who committed suicide when the FBI was closing in on him as being the anthrax killer, apparently suffered from various mental illness for years. From newspaper reports, he was under treatment for a bi-polar disorder, was suspected of possibly suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, was on medications and was in therapy and group therapy, had co-workers reporting at least among themselves that he was disturbing, troubled. Yet he continued to work unhindered in a BIO WEAPONS LABORATORY with, apparently, no restrictions.

And no required annual urine testing, physical exams, psychological exams. Not even the kind that are required by airline pilots to make sure that they’re in good enough physical and mental health to be trusted with the lives of, oh, say three hundred people.

Yet there’s Mr. Ivins, with access to deadly biologicals, working for the government in a top secret agency, who slipped into madness with no one the wiser.

In an L.A. Times article, Senator Charles Grassley, is demanding a Congressional inquiry, stating that “The FBI has a lot of explaining to do.”

You can say that again. Add in the news report at the time that claimed that the anthrax sent out to various people at the time contained a substance that was used in Saddam’s germ warfare program, thereby attempting to link, in the public mind, the connection between Saddam and 9/11, then add in the fact that apparently ABC news, for one, was told that the anthrax did NOT contain that particular substance but failed to inform the public, all of which helped make the phony case for war, and yes, some serious questions do need to be asked. Like who was the news”source” for ABC’s anthrax report? Maybe the same “source” that was behind the forged letter that various CIA spooks are now claiming came from the White House, another phony “connection” between Saddam and 9/11?

Yep. Lots of questions.

And Now A Final Question for this Lovely Saturday Morning.

Out of the disgrace of Guantanamo, the disgrace the Bush administration has made of the Geneva Conventions, the disgrace the Bush administration has created with their Feith/Yoo cooked up, twisted legalisms justifying torture and the perversion of the Constitution, will it be the Military who will turn out to be the real heroes of this disgraced country?

Like the military tribunals and judges and lawyers who just finished trying Salim Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden’s driver and during that trial insisted on a minimum standard of justice, a minimum standard that this administration was willing to throw away in their gleeful rush to the “dark side.”

And, of course, the one Supreme Court justice who held the thin line for the sake of the Constitution against the four who would see it trashed in the heat of passion and fear and a general failure of cool judgment.

That Supreme Court ruling, ensuring that the minimum standards concerning habeas corpus still stood, was a repeat of the scene from the play, “A Man For All Seasons,” wherein Sir Thomas More’s future son-in-law, in his zeal to root out heretics, demands the laws be changed:

More: “Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
Roper: “I’d cut down every law in England to do that!”
More: Oh? And when the laws law was down, and the Devil turned round on you – where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast – man’s laws, not God’s – and if you cut them down – and you’re just the man to do it – d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.”

That’s what the American people were so willing to forget in their own rush to the dark side. It is their own safety that the Constitution protects.

And Finally, As I Began, I’ll Close With This Nice Saturday Aphorism

Every Saint has a past
Every Sinner a future.

7 comments:

Realistic1 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Realistic1 said...

I am so disappointed in John Edwards.

I still voted for him in the primary, even though he had withdrawn his candidacy, because I wanted to send a message to Barack and Hillary that I lacked confidence in their committment to true change. I was tired of the political status quo.

Now, it turns out Edwards is just like all the rest. Is there really no one left to believe in?

I weep for our future.

Churadogs said...

I think it would be great if we'd shift to a political policy of Fessing Up.

Ah, we caught you sneaking out of the Beverly Hills Hotel at 2 a.m. Sir.

That's RIGHT! Got my mistress stashed there for quickies!

Family values is really great. For other people. As for me, well I like foot tapping in public restrooms and so long as no children are involved, I'll keep tapping away. Doesn't interfere with my duties as a congressperson, especially since I don't vote for laws putting foot tappers in jail or denying them civil rights.

Marriage is o.k. for some people, but not for me. I plan to open a Brothel in the White House, if elected. Best girls/boys money can buy. Not a problem for me since I'm not a hypocritical moralizer. Nope. I'm just your run of the mill sex addict who feels "entitled" to use people as I see fit. After all, I'm President and that makes me sooooo special.

See how much easier that would be? We'd have out and out honest sleazebags instead of lying phonysleazebags.

Unknown said...

While your indignation, actually most of us feel your disgust, for the latest one, who on the surfaced appeared so rightous and moral, but you stopped a little short... The lack of morals and ethics is not reserved only for the men who have allowed their ego's to drop their pants while turning away from their marriage...

*PG-13 said...

I too found myself at a loss when I first heard about Mr Edwards' indiscretion. I mean, when will it ever end? I first read about this many months ago and kept wondering why it wasn't being chatted up more. Seems the story isn't the act itself - or even getting caught in the act - but more in his denials and belated acknowledgment of his error(s). Fact is, men being trapped by their zippers/codpieces is nothing new. Been happening through all of history. Shucks, that storyline is pretty much a foundation of history. Why do we continue to act surprised when anybody - but most especially our leaders - fall to this most common of failings? I found Mr Edwards rationalizations for why he did it particularly insightful. He tried to explain that during the course of his campaign he began to assume a skewed sense of entitlement. And it was this that influenced his otherwise well-founded morality. Read: Power corrupts. (sigh) And why is it such people think they need to explain their actions? Verily, when you find yourself at the bottom of a hole QUIT DIGGING!

I agree with Ann. More honesty and less hypocrisy would help a lot. Unfortunately our political system is based on hypocrisy. The system breeds hypocrisy. Its all just a big game of Risk. Lie and cheat, say one thing but do another, conniving sleight-of-hand is the only way anything gets done in government. Cheating and lieing is the way it works. And then we're surprised and disappointed when someone gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar? We delude ourselves with our own righteousness. We're part of the problem just as much as they are. They are merely the end product of the system we have created and continue to source. Until we demand honesty - regardless of the topic and the consequences - we are getting exactly what we deserve. This is especially true in matters of religion and morality, etc. Me? I would much prefer an honest cad over a conniving, lieing, cheating, dishonest charlatan who claims to represent one thing but is in truth something different altogether. Even if s/he believes in their own spiel. That is the worst case scenario. In Edwards case I truly believe he tends to the honest side of the spectrum. Probably more than most politicians. But he got waylaid by his own base instincts. Read: sex. And who knows what else. We'll never know exactly what needs were being fulfilled by this tryst. Nor should we expect to know. The human psyche is more complex than our value systems. Edwards isn't the first man to be distracted by such. Nor will he be the last. But now there is much wailing and caterwauling about his improprieties as if that's going to fix anything. Nope, its just setting us up for the next one. I'm reminded of the big brouhaha surrounding Clinton's big mistake. While much of America seemed pole axed by his affair the rest of the world yawned. Is this all the yanks have to worry about? The rest of the world was more intrigued by our zealous response to the affair than to the affair itself. Older more mature political systems have seen such things before. They see America as a young adolescent still coming to gripes with itself and reality. Must democracy be filled with hypocrisy? We're living proof that they are inseparable. Something to consider as we go around the world seeding democracy in foreign soils and cultures.

Churadogs said...

"go around the world seeding democracy in foreigh soils and cultures." Ah, yes, indeed. And you're right, we the people get exactly the Pols we demand and deserve. And our own hypocrisy -- we publicly decry "negative political ads," further examinaiton indicates, negative ads work. We demand honesty and when we get it we sneer at it -- Obama said inflate your tires (correct) and McCain sneered and passed out little tire pressure gages. Jimmy Carter told us to grow up. Ronald Reagan promised us perpetural pudding. Gues who we elected?

No, Americans don't want truth and honesty, they want lies and hypocrisy so they'll continue to get bamboozled and fleeced.

Edwards' "explanation was very insightful -- the ego's slippery slope is well known. That's whay I once proposed that everyone in elected office be required to attend AA meetings every week, at least, and work an AA program daily, while the serenity prayer is plastered all over the oval office.

As for Edwards (and others,) that slope and fall is why I ended with that wonderful aphorism:

All saints have a past, all sinners a future. Goes for all of us.

franc4 said...

Bravo! pg-13