OK, here’s the plan. With President Obama’s welcome announcement that those currently detained at Guantanamo will be moved out in the foreseeable future, we’re stuck with the question of what to do with the place.
Leased in perpetuity over a hundred years ago as a base for naval operations in the then-dangerous Caribbean, it has long provided a convenient thorn in Cuba’s side as we await the demise of the First Secretary of the Communist Party. Not to mention the party. More recently, the treatment of Gitmo's involuntary residents has surely been a glowing example to Cubans of our government’s abiding respect for the law and due process. Then again, perhaps not.
But we digress. Having been transformed at who knows what expense – presumably little local labor was involved – into a facility for the extended confinement of those too dangerous to be allowed their freedom, why not put it to use as a long term residence for the financial masters of the universe recently responsible for the devastation of Wall Street, Main Street, and every avenue in between?
Certainly if some poor soul scooped up in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan and for all anyone knows for sure guilty of nothing more than bad luck can languish there for years, a sojourn at Guantanamo should be just the thing for the likes of Richard Fuld, who earned every penny of his $45 million salary presiding over the Lehman Brothers train wreck. Or John Thain, who as CEO of Merrill Lynch just before its fire sale at the end of a quarter when it chalked up a $15.3 billion loss made sure he and some 700 other swells divvied up $3.6 billion in bonuses. (While Mr. Thain might have some difficulty adjusting to the use of standard government facilities after having, if only briefly, use of his famous $1.2 million re-decorated office, surely the balmy temperature and tropical breezes would more than redress the balance.)
While we’re at it, a newly christened Guantanamo Club Fed would be just the place for Bernie Madoff. And how about the wizards of finance who developed and promoted like free pizza a mind-numbing array of financial instruments so arcane and far removed from anything with any tangible characteristics that for the most part they didn’t understand themselves what they were selling? Or the putative regulators and rating agency employees whose lack of attention or comprehension or both allowed the game to continue far beyond the departure of the last solvent player? Or the brokers only too eager to stuff unfortunates into houses with wildly inappropriate mortgages they had no hope of maintaining let alone ever paying off, even under the most pie-in-the-sky circumstances?
Wait a minute. That’s a lot of people. Maybe we should see if Fidel and Raul are open to expanding the lease.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
HE’S B-A-A-A-A-CK
Near the end of almost every horror movie, there’s a moment when the good people have finally triumphed over the monster who (or which) has been tormenting them for the past hour and a half or so. General jubilation, uplifting music, and wait for the credit roll. But wait!
The monster’s not completely dead! Rising from its presumed final resting place, the monster goes one more round with the good folk before finally, permanently succumbing.
This tired dramatic cliché came to mind with the recent appearance of Dick Cheney’s first interview since he slithered out of office. Not content to let as much as a month go by before rising from his figurative crypt – no doubt in some undisclosed location – to defend himself and attack anyone so foolish as to disagree with him, the previously aptly named ‘Vice” hoisted his broadsword and heaved once again into battle with his enemies.
Which includes pretty much everyone, but most especially those now occupying the positions of power Cheney & Co. so recently vacated. One suspects that with their inevitable repetition, his efforts at self-justification will become simply tedious. For just now, however, their outlandish audacity can amaze.
For example, “If you release the hard-core Al-Qaeda terrorists that are held at Guantanamo, I think they go back into the business of trying to kill more Americans and mount further mass-casualty attacks. If you turn ’em loose and they go kill more Americans, who’s responsible for that?”
Who indeed? Isn’t it at least a reasonable possibility that what might drive a released Guantanamo resident to mayhem is the experience of having been bundled off to the place, held for years with no recourse to anything even vaguely resembling due process. “Well, you see how it is, Omar. Some tribal leader picked you up, sold you to the CIA for a bounty, which we paid figuring that anyone carrying a pen knife in the hills of Whatchamacallitstan is clearly up to no good and in all likelihood at least middle-level Al-Qaeda. So you were shuffled down some malign underground railroad and ended up a guest of the U.S. Government in Cuba for the past six years. No trial, no contact with your family, no hope the nightmare would end. But hey! No hard feelings, huh?”
Or, following Cheney’s pretzel logic, are we prepared to hold these individuals indefinitely? A more effective jihadi recruitment tool does not readily come to mind.
There’s more. “Those policies we put in place (terrorist surveillance, “enhanced” interrogation, the Patriot Act), in my opinion, were absolutely crucial to getting us through the last seven-plus years without a major-casualty attack on the U.S.” Surely this deserves a gold medal for specious reasoning, served up with a healthy side order of “We know what’s best.” Can it be seriously argued at this late date that the actions of Team Cheney over the past eight years were the best way of achieving our security? And at what cost? This year marks the semiquincentennial anniversary of a germane observation by one Benjamin Franklin: “They who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
As for Cheney, roll credits. The show’s over.
The monster’s not completely dead! Rising from its presumed final resting place, the monster goes one more round with the good folk before finally, permanently succumbing.
This tired dramatic cliché came to mind with the recent appearance of Dick Cheney’s first interview since he slithered out of office. Not content to let as much as a month go by before rising from his figurative crypt – no doubt in some undisclosed location – to defend himself and attack anyone so foolish as to disagree with him, the previously aptly named ‘Vice” hoisted his broadsword and heaved once again into battle with his enemies.
Which includes pretty much everyone, but most especially those now occupying the positions of power Cheney & Co. so recently vacated. One suspects that with their inevitable repetition, his efforts at self-justification will become simply tedious. For just now, however, their outlandish audacity can amaze.
For example, “If you release the hard-core Al-Qaeda terrorists that are held at Guantanamo, I think they go back into the business of trying to kill more Americans and mount further mass-casualty attacks. If you turn ’em loose and they go kill more Americans, who’s responsible for that?”
Who indeed? Isn’t it at least a reasonable possibility that what might drive a released Guantanamo resident to mayhem is the experience of having been bundled off to the place, held for years with no recourse to anything even vaguely resembling due process. “Well, you see how it is, Omar. Some tribal leader picked you up, sold you to the CIA for a bounty, which we paid figuring that anyone carrying a pen knife in the hills of Whatchamacallitstan is clearly up to no good and in all likelihood at least middle-level Al-Qaeda. So you were shuffled down some malign underground railroad and ended up a guest of the U.S. Government in Cuba for the past six years. No trial, no contact with your family, no hope the nightmare would end. But hey! No hard feelings, huh?”
Or, following Cheney’s pretzel logic, are we prepared to hold these individuals indefinitely? A more effective jihadi recruitment tool does not readily come to mind.
There’s more. “Those policies we put in place (terrorist surveillance, “enhanced” interrogation, the Patriot Act), in my opinion, were absolutely crucial to getting us through the last seven-plus years without a major-casualty attack on the U.S.” Surely this deserves a gold medal for specious reasoning, served up with a healthy side order of “We know what’s best.” Can it be seriously argued at this late date that the actions of Team Cheney over the past eight years were the best way of achieving our security? And at what cost? This year marks the semiquincentennial anniversary of a germane observation by one Benjamin Franklin: “They who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
As for Cheney, roll credits. The show’s over.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Senator Roland Burris
Legend has it that conquering Roman generals, in their homecoming parades celebrating their victories, would be accompanied on their chariots by a slave whose only function was to whisper in the general’s ear, “Remember all glory is fleeting.”
This brings us directly to the new junior Senator from Illinois, Roland Burris. Say what else you will, this worthy is clearly a man of foresight, and of no mind to consider the transience of fame. The ethically-challenged Gov. Blagojevich’s appointment to fill Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Burris has already had completed most of the work on his tombstone which will eternally grace Oak Woods Cemetery on Chicago’s South Side. Save for his entombment, of course, and some final memorializing.
Actually, “tombstone” rather under-describes this bold edifice; “momument” seems more appropriate. And like most monuments, this one comes complete, even at this premature date, with inscriptions, testimony to the greatness of its future inhabitant.
Among whose signal achievements, helpfully listed under the heading “Trail Blazer, First African-American To Become:” are Illinois State Comptroller and Illinois Attorney General. So far, so good. But Roland would also have it known that his accomplishments further include being the first African-American son of the Land of Lincoln to be “S.I.U. Exchange Student to University of Hamburg 1959-60.” One imagines his frustration at having been just barely nosed out by another who scored as first exchange student to the University of Paris.
Not content with this list of “firsts,” Mr. Burris cleverly found space on another panel of this shrine for such “Other Major Accomplishments” as “Board of Directors, Illinois C.P.A. Society (First Non-C.P.A. Member) 2000.” This last is of some curiosity – as would be the American Medical Association being led by someone other than a doctor.
But leave such churlish thoughts aside. What’s more interesting about this monument to ego are the, albeit understandable, omissions. It might have been enlightening to future generations to read, for example, that Mr. Burris’s firsts also include not one or two, but fully three unsuccessful runs for the Governorship of Illinois, including in 2002 against one Rod Blagojevich. Or perhaps that as Attorney General, Mr. Burris ignored a request from his Assistant Attorney General to re-open the case of a convicted murderer, who was subsequently exonerated by Governor Ryan on the basis of exculpatory evidence.
Well, in his defense, it must be said that with the departure from the “world’s most exclusive club” of such exemplars of probity as Ted Stevens and Larry Craig, there is an evident need for replacement members at the shallow end of the Senate’s talent pool. As another Senator once said about a (subsequently rejected) candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court accused of being a mediocre judge: “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they?“ Indeed. Welcome, Senator Burris.
This brings us directly to the new junior Senator from Illinois, Roland Burris. Say what else you will, this worthy is clearly a man of foresight, and of no mind to consider the transience of fame. The ethically-challenged Gov. Blagojevich’s appointment to fill Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Burris has already had completed most of the work on his tombstone which will eternally grace Oak Woods Cemetery on Chicago’s South Side. Save for his entombment, of course, and some final memorializing.
Actually, “tombstone” rather under-describes this bold edifice; “momument” seems more appropriate. And like most monuments, this one comes complete, even at this premature date, with inscriptions, testimony to the greatness of its future inhabitant.
Among whose signal achievements, helpfully listed under the heading “Trail Blazer, First African-American To Become:” are Illinois State Comptroller and Illinois Attorney General. So far, so good. But Roland would also have it known that his accomplishments further include being the first African-American son of the Land of Lincoln to be “S.I.U. Exchange Student to University of Hamburg 1959-60.” One imagines his frustration at having been just barely nosed out by another who scored as first exchange student to the University of Paris.
Not content with this list of “firsts,” Mr. Burris cleverly found space on another panel of this shrine for such “Other Major Accomplishments” as “Board of Directors, Illinois C.P.A. Society (First Non-C.P.A. Member) 2000.” This last is of some curiosity – as would be the American Medical Association being led by someone other than a doctor.
But leave such churlish thoughts aside. What’s more interesting about this monument to ego are the, albeit understandable, omissions. It might have been enlightening to future generations to read, for example, that Mr. Burris’s firsts also include not one or two, but fully three unsuccessful runs for the Governorship of Illinois, including in 2002 against one Rod Blagojevich. Or perhaps that as Attorney General, Mr. Burris ignored a request from his Assistant Attorney General to re-open the case of a convicted murderer, who was subsequently exonerated by Governor Ryan on the basis of exculpatory evidence.
Well, in his defense, it must be said that with the departure from the “world’s most exclusive club” of such exemplars of probity as Ted Stevens and Larry Craig, there is an evident need for replacement members at the shallow end of the Senate’s talent pool. As another Senator once said about a (subsequently rejected) candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court accused of being a mediocre judge: “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they?“ Indeed. Welcome, Senator Burris.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
He Did It His Way
In an only maybe unintentional reference to President Bush’s dyslexic-like difficulties with the English language, the New York Times headlined their article about his last press conference “Mistakes, I’ve Made a Few Bush Tells Reporters.” Or perhaps the writer was channeling Frank Sinatra. Either way, it comes as scant solace to learn that The Decider has finally decided that, yes, there might actually have been a thing or two in the past eight years that could have been better handled or enjoyed more positive outcomes.
“Mission Accomplished” for example. That stunningly premature assessment was given, let us recall, nearly six years ago, since when the majority of Iraqis living in their capital city have been without respite dealing with such minor annoyances as no electricity, no running water, and no certainty that their next shopping foray won’t result in an involuntary hospital visit.
Hurricane Katrina, you mention? “I thought long and hard about (it),” he said, leaving aside any suggestion that perhaps his thinking was, at the extreme of charity, insufficient to the task.
“Regrets, I’ve had a few?” Well, he did admit that “Not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment.” And even more, that the grotesqueries perpetrated by U.S. military forces at Abu Graib were “a huge disappointment.” This surely retires the trophy for unadulterated, monumental gall. We are to accept that remorse for the result expunges the responsibility for bringing it about. This flawed logic is, of course, familiar to any eight-year old who blames the cookie jar for its fatal plunge to earth. In the instant case, the fevered efforts by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al to concoct a rationale for an invasion already green-lighted or the wholesale mangling of the law and human decency are consigned to Orwell’s memory hole.
As the historian George Santayana famously observed, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” But the very capability to learn something from anything, or anyone, necessarily presumes sufficient humility to accept not having total command oneself of everything known and knowable.
We have every right – even a defensible need – to expect our President to have a healthy level of self-confidence. When it gives way to self-delusion, it’s past time to back the moving trucks up to the White House.
So long, George.
“Mission Accomplished” for example. That stunningly premature assessment was given, let us recall, nearly six years ago, since when the majority of Iraqis living in their capital city have been without respite dealing with such minor annoyances as no electricity, no running water, and no certainty that their next shopping foray won’t result in an involuntary hospital visit.
Hurricane Katrina, you mention? “I thought long and hard about (it),” he said, leaving aside any suggestion that perhaps his thinking was, at the extreme of charity, insufficient to the task.
“Regrets, I’ve had a few?” Well, he did admit that “Not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment.” And even more, that the grotesqueries perpetrated by U.S. military forces at Abu Graib were “a huge disappointment.” This surely retires the trophy for unadulterated, monumental gall. We are to accept that remorse for the result expunges the responsibility for bringing it about. This flawed logic is, of course, familiar to any eight-year old who blames the cookie jar for its fatal plunge to earth. In the instant case, the fevered efforts by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al to concoct a rationale for an invasion already green-lighted or the wholesale mangling of the law and human decency are consigned to Orwell’s memory hole.
As the historian George Santayana famously observed, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” But the very capability to learn something from anything, or anyone, necessarily presumes sufficient humility to accept not having total command oneself of everything known and knowable.
We have every right – even a defensible need – to expect our President to have a healthy level of self-confidence. When it gives way to self-delusion, it’s past time to back the moving trucks up to the White House.
So long, George.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Keeping Score
It seems fatuous – presumptuous, even – to add any words to the deluge already occasioned by the election results. But perhaps a bit like wanting to linger a moment more to appreciate a particular scene, or fix it more firmly in memory, it seems worth the effort, however inconsequential.
At some rarely plunged level, I think we’ve seen a too-rare triumph of hope over fear. No one can say with any certainty what will come of the new political ordering. The tallying of the damage done in the past eight years alone will be a massive undertaking. What does seem certain, though, if just for this one brief to-be-savored instant, is that acknowledgment of the sheer overwhelming, pervasive wrongness of our past course has at last been sufficient to prompt a widespread, active consideration of meaningful remediation.
The ancestry of the President-elect and his wildly improbable life story by themselves suggest the country is making progress — however fitful and painfully languid -- in overcoming its tragic history of racial prejudice. Stripped of any political or future policy implications, this in itself is ample cause for celebration outlasting last nights revels – both those planned and those gratifyingly spontaneous.
Perhaps it’s a peculiarly human trait to remember our surroundings at moments deemed nationally historic -- political assassinations, the Columbia and Challenger disasters, 9/11. It feeds the cynic’s soul that so often these occasions are the stuff of tragedy rather than triumph.
But this time, the hope that ultimately sustains us has cast a beam in the darkness. Remember yesterday. It may turn out that something greatly good and lasting began. Score one for the better angels.
At some rarely plunged level, I think we’ve seen a too-rare triumph of hope over fear. No one can say with any certainty what will come of the new political ordering. The tallying of the damage done in the past eight years alone will be a massive undertaking. What does seem certain, though, if just for this one brief to-be-savored instant, is that acknowledgment of the sheer overwhelming, pervasive wrongness of our past course has at last been sufficient to prompt a widespread, active consideration of meaningful remediation.
The ancestry of the President-elect and his wildly improbable life story by themselves suggest the country is making progress — however fitful and painfully languid -- in overcoming its tragic history of racial prejudice. Stripped of any political or future policy implications, this in itself is ample cause for celebration outlasting last nights revels – both those planned and those gratifyingly spontaneous.
Perhaps it’s a peculiarly human trait to remember our surroundings at moments deemed nationally historic -- political assassinations, the Columbia and Challenger disasters, 9/11. It feeds the cynic’s soul that so often these occasions are the stuff of tragedy rather than triumph.
But this time, the hope that ultimately sustains us has cast a beam in the darkness. Remember yesterday. It may turn out that something greatly good and lasting began. Score one for the better angels.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Say It Ain't So
No, not because of the possibility that the gezillion polls all showing Obama walking away with the election will all turn out to have been terribly wrong and we’ll wake up November 5th (or January 27th, depending on Florida) to discover that McCain and the Moose Mistress are headed for Washington.
What’s truly worrisome is that Samuel J. Werzelbacher has engaged Pathfinder Management of Nashville to be one of his – are you ready? – three music industry representatives. This despite the cautious observation by the President of Pathfinder that while his new client “can carry a tune, we’re not calling him anything until we get him into a studio.” Now, hands up if you see where this is going. OK, all hands down. The moniker prospectively in question is not, as those less informed might guess, anything cute, topical, or intended to poke a finger in the eye of polite society. We speak rather of the most recent piece of flotsam cast up on the public beach by the churning political oceans, a worthy to be known for the remainder of his over-extended fifteen minutes as Joe the Plumber.
You can’t make this stuff up. Joe (let’s concede this a far better option that using his actual first name) the Plumber has hired not one, but three agents to guide him through the maze of his newfound celebrity status. And if events should conspire to line his pockets with some of the $250,00 he famously told Obama he needed to buy the company employing him, well, is this a great country or what?
Here’s Jim Della Croce, President of Pathfinder, waxing lyric on Joe’s talents: “Joe the Plumber is fast becoming a brand. He is a dynamic speaker and an everyman who has become an overnight celebrity.” And prospects? “It wouldn’t be far afield to have Joe be the spokesperson for Home Depot, representing the shoulder-to-the-wheel working stiff.”
Leave aside the lamentable condescension Jim evidently feels towards his new protégé and let us ruminate for a moment on the glittering options now within Joe’s reach. Spokesperson for Home Depot? Small change. Why not the endorser of his own line of plumbing tools? Or, recognizing his apparent ability to keep the IRS at bay, why not open a network of storefronts pedaling tax advice? Maybe he could even run for Vice President. On the evidence available, his talents and qualifications put him somewhere between the two current contenders.
What’s truly worrisome is that Samuel J. Werzelbacher has engaged Pathfinder Management of Nashville to be one of his – are you ready? – three music industry representatives. This despite the cautious observation by the President of Pathfinder that while his new client “can carry a tune, we’re not calling him anything until we get him into a studio.” Now, hands up if you see where this is going. OK, all hands down. The moniker prospectively in question is not, as those less informed might guess, anything cute, topical, or intended to poke a finger in the eye of polite society. We speak rather of the most recent piece of flotsam cast up on the public beach by the churning political oceans, a worthy to be known for the remainder of his over-extended fifteen minutes as Joe the Plumber.
You can’t make this stuff up. Joe (let’s concede this a far better option that using his actual first name) the Plumber has hired not one, but three agents to guide him through the maze of his newfound celebrity status. And if events should conspire to line his pockets with some of the $250,00 he famously told Obama he needed to buy the company employing him, well, is this a great country or what?
Here’s Jim Della Croce, President of Pathfinder, waxing lyric on Joe’s talents: “Joe the Plumber is fast becoming a brand. He is a dynamic speaker and an everyman who has become an overnight celebrity.” And prospects? “It wouldn’t be far afield to have Joe be the spokesperson for Home Depot, representing the shoulder-to-the-wheel working stiff.”
Leave aside the lamentable condescension Jim evidently feels towards his new protégé and let us ruminate for a moment on the glittering options now within Joe’s reach. Spokesperson for Home Depot? Small change. Why not the endorser of his own line of plumbing tools? Or, recognizing his apparent ability to keep the IRS at bay, why not open a network of storefronts pedaling tax advice? Maybe he could even run for Vice President. On the evidence available, his talents and qualifications put him somewhere between the two current contenders.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
This Just In
In a stunning development, the French government strongly condemned the U.S. Special Forces attack on a small farm in Rocquefort. U.S officials countered that immediate action had been necessary to prevent the shipment of “moldy” cheese to the U.S., and said the strike was clearly within the limits of the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive retaliation.
Efforts to reach a political settlement in Iraq stalled over the inability of the government there to find a room sufficiently large to accommodate the members from all the parties, sects, regions involved. A proposal to hold the meeting outdoors was quashed when the U.S. said it couldn’t provide assurances of safety and Blackwater refused the assignment unless it was paid in advance.
As Election Day approaches, both parties are recruiting armies of lawyers to monitor polling places for potential fraud, malfeasance, and littering. Turnout is expected to be unusually heavy, with long lines as voters are forced to navigate their way through armies of lawyers.
The U.S. Government is continuing its efforts to find countries willing to accept some of the Guantanamo prisoners. Administration officials expressed regret that to date no country has offered to accept these individuals who, according to the Government, are too dangerous to be released within the United States.
Senator Ted Stevens vowed to continue “serving the voters of Alaska,” expressing confidence that incarceration would in no way hinder his abilities to do so and that in any event, he will have completed his expected sentence prior to his next election bid in 2014.
In several campaign speeches, Senator McCain chided the press for continuing to focus on the now universally discounted links between Obama and William Ayers instead of more serious issues . Asked why he felt compelled to keep bringing the subject up, McCain replied, “If I don’t, who’s going to pay any attention?”
It was disclosed that the highest paid staffer in Governor Palin’s entourage in the first half of October was her makeup consultant. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an aide said the title had originally gone to her foreign affairs advisor, but had been withdrawn when the un-named individual left the campaign to resume third grade.
The global credit crisis has severely impacted housing prices in all countries excepting Uruguay, whose lack of an extradition treaty with the U.S. makes it a popular relocation destination for former banking officials.
In other financial news, officials in Washington scrambled to find a way to provide General Motors with the $5-10 billion it is expected to need to continue operations as it pursues a merger with Tonka Toys.
Good night, and good luck.
Efforts to reach a political settlement in Iraq stalled over the inability of the government there to find a room sufficiently large to accommodate the members from all the parties, sects, regions involved. A proposal to hold the meeting outdoors was quashed when the U.S. said it couldn’t provide assurances of safety and Blackwater refused the assignment unless it was paid in advance.
As Election Day approaches, both parties are recruiting armies of lawyers to monitor polling places for potential fraud, malfeasance, and littering. Turnout is expected to be unusually heavy, with long lines as voters are forced to navigate their way through armies of lawyers.
The U.S. Government is continuing its efforts to find countries willing to accept some of the Guantanamo prisoners. Administration officials expressed regret that to date no country has offered to accept these individuals who, according to the Government, are too dangerous to be released within the United States.
Senator Ted Stevens vowed to continue “serving the voters of Alaska,” expressing confidence that incarceration would in no way hinder his abilities to do so and that in any event, he will have completed his expected sentence prior to his next election bid in 2014.
In several campaign speeches, Senator McCain chided the press for continuing to focus on the now universally discounted links between Obama and William Ayers instead of more serious issues . Asked why he felt compelled to keep bringing the subject up, McCain replied, “If I don’t, who’s going to pay any attention?”
It was disclosed that the highest paid staffer in Governor Palin’s entourage in the first half of October was her makeup consultant. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an aide said the title had originally gone to her foreign affairs advisor, but had been withdrawn when the un-named individual left the campaign to resume third grade.
The global credit crisis has severely impacted housing prices in all countries excepting Uruguay, whose lack of an extradition treaty with the U.S. makes it a popular relocation destination for former banking officials.
In other financial news, officials in Washington scrambled to find a way to provide General Motors with the $5-10 billion it is expected to need to continue operations as it pursues a merger with Tonka Toys.
Good night, and good luck.
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