We, The People I’ve never seen a Senator or Congressman/Congresswoman indicted for representing the interests of the people. Maybe we should stop saying ‘we put them in power’ and start saying ‘we put them there to work for us.’ They don’t have power. This is a democracy; we, the people, have the power. Why don’t they understand this basic tenet?
Dream On/Off NBC and DreamWorks, SKG (Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen) couldn’t get together on price. It probably wasn't so much the $100 million plus NBC wanted to knock from its original $1.5 billion offer, but the paltry $100 million per picture budget that it wanted to stick the Dream Team with...can you imagine?
Questions of the Week
1. To prevent hurricane affected citizens from getting ripped-off by fly-by-night crooks, can’t local or state or federal governments quickly certify contractors and others seeking to help restore destroyed lives? Is this so difficult?
2. Why did the head of the FDA, you know, the agency that approves what we stick in our bodies like drugs, food, and body parts, take a powder? This one could be really, really interesting.
3. Is the Army ever going to convince us that it’s coming clean on prisoner abuse?
Weekly Citizens’ Award To departing Corinthian Colleges director Michael P. Berry for his kick-ass four-page letter of resignation from the board. We need more directors like Michael P. Berry. Maybe we need an annual awards show like the Oscars; we can call them the Berries, where awards are given to best director of a corporation, best director of a charity, best director…the list is endless. At the same time, DingleBerries could be awarded, likely in absentia, to the worst director in each category.
Duh! Ask a seven-year-old child how American citizens can use less gas? Compare the answer with that of our the leader of the most powerful country in the free world. (Drive less.) We needed to be told this?
Weekly Chutzpah Award To Tom DeLay for his sophomoric response to his indictment. You are not above the law, sir. Treat it with respect, or it will bite your ass.
Stuff that in your Burka! After getting the finger in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, how many more Middle East trips will Under Secretary Karen Hughes make to convince those uncivilized heathens that truth, justice, and the American way is the only way?
Calling Willard Scott E=mc2 joins centenarian ranks this month. What is it? Correct: Einstein’s theory of relativity. What is the translation? Hmmm. What does it mean? Um, er, huh? Intelligent design?
Free At Last Judith Miller, after 12 weeks in the slammer for refusing to name names, walks among us and will testify before the grand jury. Her confidential source, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff, not only gave her a waiver saying she was no longer bound by any pledge of confidentiality to him, but that he genuinely wanted her to testify. What’s wrong with this picture?
Holy Bat Shit! Don’t want SARS virus? Then don’t eat Chinese horseshoe bats (ugly little buggers, aren't they) or guano. Yeah, you read it right, guano! Many Asians eat bats or use bat shit in medicine.
Corporate Crook Update
1. Sammy Israel and Danny Marino, masterminds of the $450 million Bayou fraud, surrendered after two months on the lam.
2. Bernie's lawyers are trying to get his sentence reduced to something less than twenty-five years. I don't think he got a fair shake compared with his corporate crook kith and kin, but we're looking at it through the wrong end of the telescope; let's increase the sentences of the other scoundrels rather than reduce Bernie's.
Take My Stuff Please Hurricane looted businesses may be ahead of the game: they will collect theft insurance; the wind/water question might disallow claims.
Law & Disorder
1. New Orleans :: Police Department; a new oxymoron?
2. Did power lobbyist Abramoff (you know, the guy with close ties to a whole bunch of power Republicans including Ton DeLay) have a business antagonist, who tried to stab Abramoff’s partner with a pen, whacked by paid hit men with mob ties? Stay tuned.
Halliburton for President? If Halliburton Oil simply took over the country, we wouldn’t have to waste time worrying about the billions in non-compete contracts it gets almost as a daily diet and Cheney can publicly reassume the job of CEO. He can also officially name himself President of the United States.
Irony of the Week. Paul Wolfowitz, one of the main guys responsible for getting America mired in the cesspool known as Iraq with his rosy projections of how little it would cost and how few troops would be required, is now charging over the plains on a new white steed. As president of the World Bank, he wants a bunch of really rich countries like the United States to forgive $18 billion in debt owed by a bunch of really poor countries, much to the chagrin of his old Washington pals. I say ‘good for you Paul,’ now if you can just figure out how to pay for the war…
Corporate Screw-up of the Week Lenovo, the Chinese company that bought IBM’s Think division, forgot to remove I.B.M. logos from the new crop of Lenovo Think Pad Z-Series laptops. How do you say 'Shit Happens' in Chinese.
Readin’ Ritin’ and Rotten Former Roslyn (Long Island) schools superintendent, Frank A. Tassone, pleased guilty to stealing $2 million of school district loot. His pals pocketed another $9 million. And here we were, worried about our kids getting into grade four.
Accountants, we don’t need no Stinkin’ Accountants! The mere suggestion that the SEC Chairman could face pressure to weaken the auditing standard that directs how auditors review companies’ internal financial controls is absurd. Change them to be more effective: YES; weaken them: NEVER. Good God, Enron’s body isn’t even cold; Skilling and Kenny Boy have yet to have their asses hauled into court.
Roberts Rules A lot has been made of how new Chief Justice John G. Roberts will shape the future of the court. We, and he, should be as concerned about how history will reflect on his tenure.
