Since Seeker left, here on the forum there's not been much debate of American politics. So, I thought I'd run this topic up the flagpole and see what the response might be... what sort of dust we might kick up. Was I surprised.
For nearly his entire presidency, President Clinton was dogged by a republican led investigation into his supposed "corrupt" dealings in the matter of Whitewater. After eight years and a reported $70 million dollars, the final report concluded that there was insufficient evidence that either of the Clintons has done anything wrong.
Now, I'm not by any means suggesting that the taxpayers blow another 70 mil on some political witchhunt as those rabid, Clinton-hating Republicans did, but can we ask questions? This makes the second economically based scandal during the Bush Administration in which the two at the very top either had connections or play a vital role.
Cheney was CEO of a company that cooked the books to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in exactly the same way that Enron did!
When he was CEO!! Can anyone say Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay -- now a pariah among his former friends (for whom he's also made millions) as well as the subject of a possible CRIMINAL investigation? In a fashion similar to what Lay did, Cheney profited to the tune of $13 million on a stock sale just a few days before a negative report was released by his company.
If one person robs a bank and we want to send him to jail, do we overlook it when a second man robs a bank right in front of us? I mean, is it okay to at least *talk* about it? Is it okay to raise our brows when Cheney now refers all questions to his former employer? Kenny Boy shoulda thought of that!
Seems clear to me: on the one hand (in the case of the Clintons), there was never any real reason to investigate but we did anyway... spent eight years and 70 mil.
On the other hand (in the case of Cheney *and* Bush), there's all kinds of smoke (is there also fire?), millions grabbed and folks absconding into the night, only to return as the Nation's political elite, charged with the responsibility of protecting us chickens from those mean ol' corporate wolves. Is it okay to wonder? Or is that just my PUBLIC EDUCATION kicking in, Frank?
Frank, you can go off on rants about "lottery ticket-buyin' po' folks" who, because of their shear numbers, keep you from buying staples at your favorite convenience store. You can talk all you want about ad valorem taxes, inability to buy beer on Sundays, the sky-rocketing cost of licensing your autos, and your hopes of hitting another kind of lottery and getting the hell out of the U.S. Sure, you have the right to go off on tangents that have nothing to do with the topic of the thread, but is that really what you want to do? If so... Cool.
I'll let this go. I have long understood that people can be mighty touchy when you even THINK of questioning the honor/virtue of those two sacred cows: religion and politics.
"Don't choo be sayin' nothin' bad about my elder, governing body member, president preacha." I guess... I just thought that... well... nevermind.
