Random thoughts on recent news

First of all, justice has been done, sorta. Bernie Madoff, was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Madoff is 71. Try to do as much of it as you can Bern!!! Some in the media hailed this sentence as a get tough warning to Wall Street. Heifer dust! No one at AIG, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs or any of the other financial corporations the United States partially owns have been indicted for frauds related to the financial meltdown. The bond rating agencies, who were accessories abetted the fraud by giving AAA ratings to all of the mortgage backed securities have not even been given a slap on the wrist.

Carolina Governor Mark Sanford continues to provide the press with more details of various infidelities, actual and mental. Gov. Sanford fib about "hiking the Appalachian Trail," is now a euphemism for sneaking of to meet your mistress. Swampland's Michael Scherer is starting to lose sympathy for the errant governor:
Every time he talks about the pain in his heart, that organ, as seen through newsprint and cable news, seems somehow to shrink. Each new round of confessed aches and longing, every Biblical allusion, all the vagaries of his non-coital betrayals, of his dance floor marriage therapy, his electronic soul mate, his South American crying, the Hamptons tryst--all of it makes him look smaller and less significant. I don't care about his private pain.

I have a funny feeling that Gov. Sanford may soon be the butt of divorce barbie type jokes. The divorced Barbie joke? Q: What comes with the new Divorced Barbie Doll? A: All of Ken's Stuff. Q: What happens if your wife finds out you've been "hiking the Appalachian Trail?" A: She might let you keep the tent.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stated in the August 2009 issue of Runner's World Magazine that she'd beat President Obama in a Marathon race. Good for you Gov. Palin. The only reason I looked at the story was that the Huffington Post and other online media outlets had a headine saying that Palin could be Obama. The headline made you assume that Gov. Palin was referring to the 2012 election, when actually she was referring to racing Obama in a Marathon. Unfortunately Sarah Barracuda was the subject of an unflattering article in Vanity Fair, by Todd S. Purdum. Gov. Palin, is not a Wasilla hockey mom, but

a political novice with an intuitive feel for the temper of her times, a woman who saw her opportunities and coolly seized them. In every job, she surrounded herself with an insular coterie of trusted friends, took disagreements personally, discarded people who were no longer useful, and swiftly dealt vengeance on enemies, real or perceived.

Finally, I want to congradulate the California State Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for failing to pass a state budget by June 30. They should be proud this is political incompetence at the highest level. The governor and the Republicans are refusing to countenance any increase in taxes. Unfortunately, there is no way to balance the state budget without some tax increases. This idiocy and unwillingness to compromise is bringing calls for a new California Constitutional Convention, which is probably the only way that state government effectively for all the people instead of for corrupt special interests and the intellectually challenged Sacramento politicians they support.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Flying to down to Buenos Aires part 1

First of all, congratulations to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford for giving up his chances to be humiliated to by Barrack Obama in 2012 to spend a week in Buenos Aires with his current mistress, whoever she may be. Gov. Sanford's failing is human, so he, his wife, and family have my sympathy.


I would have done the same thing, except, I don't have a wife, a family, a mistress or a chance of ever holding any kind of public office. Still Gov. Sanford has been a decent and principled public servant for most of his career. Life catches us in strange and mysterious ways.


Having been sympathetic for a moment, don't forget that Gov. Sanford had no qualms about depriving of the people of South Carolina $750 million in federal stimulous money. He also voted to impeach Pres. Bill Clinton for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, so he still has to spend some time in the penalty box.



He had the good taste not ask his wife to appear at his press conference, like former New York Governor Elliott Spitzer. Spitzer paid $4300 to spend the night with a prostitute. To his credit, Gov. Sanford didn't pay some kid $5400 to sleep with his mother like Nev. Senator John Ensign. Sanford's fugue still cost a pretty penny, first class round trip from Atlanta to Buenos Aires is about $6800, according to the search I did on Expedia. That doesn't include staying in a four-star hotel ($2200) and renting a car (no estimate) for those long drives along the Argentinian coast.


Are you a powerful politician with presidential aspirations? Well for just a few thousand dollars I can help free you from your delusions of presidential glory. Prices begin at $4300 to $6800 OAC. Democrats, Republicans and Italian Prime Ministers are welcome. Cheaper than the Betty Ford or some rehab in Malibu. (Note to self: business opportunity here).


We should all thank Gov. Sandford for taking the spotlight of media attention from the divorce of Jon and Kate Gosselin. I mean with all this crap about a revolution in Iraq, the bickering over President Obama's health care reform plan by Republicans and weak-kneed Democrats it's hard to focus on the real important stuff like Kate's posing in a bikini or Jon's search for a new apartment. All I know about this situation is what I read in the headlines, which in the case of Jon and Kate is way too much.


Capitano Tedeschi

30

Sanford photo courtesy of the SC Governor's Office
Source
http://www.scgovernor.com/news/photos/