"Troopergate": Thank Heavens That's Over
One less idiotic "-gate" for me to deal with. I suppose I should be happy the '72 Democrats didn't hole up in the "Waterbutt" Hotel. Hmm. Happy, or disappointed?
The Alaska Personnel Board rep sez:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081104/D9480AK83.html
Another mole-hill gone.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
I was unable to click through the link, wry.
But, whew! Cleared by a board over which she has hire/fire authority! That was close...
Now let's move on to the Cheney-esque use of personal email accounts to conduct state business - outside statutory document retention requirements.
Then we can address the habit of charging taxpayers for childens' travel, altering expense reports and filing for per diem reimbursement while staying at a primary residence.
But I doubt THAT will happpen - 'twould be obviously politcally motivated.
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Sorry; will fix link. Meanwhile, any Google search (or Yahoo! -- wouldn't want to discriminate!) on "Troopergate" will suffice...
Don't mention "Cheney" again on my site -- the very mention of that evil, nasty THING gives me the shivers! Brr! Everything IT did was horribles! Oh my precccciousssss!
Eek.
Meanwhile it's okay to imply that (perhaps) Governor Palin has other, more meaningful skeletons in her gubernatorial closet. But I trust you will be treating all state and elected officials, on both sides, including Obama and Biden and Pelosi and Reed, with the same dispassionate eye.
I am striving, myself, to try and do the same, and sort of draw a line of concern in the sand. Then, if a person falls below that line (cf. "Sen." Larry Craig, or "Sen." Ted Stevens, or Rep. Jefferson, or Sen. Rangel) -- I pounce, and if not, not.
Feel free to hone my use of this philosophy. E.G., you may chide me on the whole Bill Ayers / Sen. Obama connection, if you find me giving it too much weight, while ignoring similar relationships on "my side" of the aisle.
As for ridiculing Billy Ayers just for being who he is, I think I am on safe ground there. ;o/
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Bill Ayres - two years ago, and not illegal or unethical. Poor judgement at best.
Palin's escapades - present-day, and if not illegal, unethical.
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[note: (s)lightly edited by the editor for content** -- ;o/ ]
apparently D = "good"; I or R = "bad"
Animal Farm ethics, nice.
(the earlier probe was by a political branch constitutionally a rival to the governor's office and antagonistic to the governor herself, but it was fair --the last probe, initiated by the governor herself and executed by an independent investigator, was biased and worthless. Dude. [...])
While we all know the Democrats are pure of heart and virtuous and all Republicans, especially the successful minorities and women are evil gnomes incapable of any redeeming quality [...]
Put away your hatred for Palin, it's unfounded and shallow and, frankly, ugly.
Any imagined or real malfeasance you find pales in comparison to any one Dem heavy hitter so far... (Jefferson, Schumer, Sharpton, Jackson, Murtha, Pelosi, Reid, Biden, Obama, Clinton he and she...) and countless Republican heavy hitters to boot. I'd start with the examples, but we're limited to 3000 characters here...
And yes, you have to compare - any and every public official is in violation of some statute at some time... it is impossible to operate effectively otherwise.
I'll bet Wry himself can be found to have been in gross violation of some ordinance when he served several years in a Councilman position. Is he evil and not to be trusted?
[ WM here. Although I cannot recall any such malfeasance while in office, I will admit to being one of the first to experiment with "JOLT" cola while in a public meeting -- this was back in the "anything goes" 1980's -- and also to sneaking down from the cheap seats, on occasion (cf. also a very, very funny bit from the Bob Newhart Show). ]
Damn straight the ethics are situational. In Palin's case, what was hidden in the personal accounts? Does it matter that she didn't restrict access to any investigator and stopped the practice? It should.
Who did she *not* abuse her power to protect? An eleven-year-old relative in an abusive situation? What good is having an Aunt for Governor if it won't protect your personal mind, emotion and body? Especially if she can do it without violating convention. And it is convention for any underling to pay close attention to what their boss wants. ESPECIALLY if you are in an at-will position. In my job, I better do what my principal requests if I want to teach here next year, believe it. That's just life.
[...] You don't like her, we get it.
[** and just what does "edited for content" mean, anyways?]
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I concur wholly on the Billy Ayres connection, and only am concerned where it sems to be part of a larger, overall tapestry of "poor judgement at best." But you see, you help me keep an even keel on such things. If I am to be concerned about that, then I have to be equally concerned about any such pattern of acquaintances among any presidential candidate (e.g., Sen. McCain with the Keaton gang back during the last banking collapse.), and should, I think, be willing to assess the maturation of any such candidate -- again, if I choose to be so concerned -- in the intervening years.
Did they learn their lesson(s)? Who do they associate with now, and how dependent are they on such individuals for counsel? That sort of thing.
But that is only an example.
I saw articles EXPOSING PALIN'S INSIDE DEALS when she was Mayor of Wasilla -- no joke; this was Associated Press stuff! Evidently, the planning commission gave her a special variance on a shed or a garage or something on her property, so that she didn't have to bring it up to code before selling the property!
Gasp!
At that point, it hit me: there has to be a "threshold" of illegality/unethicality/just-plain-unlikeability above which I won't care about a given representative's actions.
But, when someone crosses the "threshold" then I will give myself permission to care.
And yes -- like all things, this is a multi-axial "threshold," closer to the zero-point in some arenas, and more lax in others.
I just have to get over my bias against North Easters, however... that's just not doing me any good to envision all of the people north of Pennsylvania as being total idiots...
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