A Good Spanking

 

Sometimes people do such strange things -- so weird, or inexplicable, or stupid, or unprofessional, or petty, that it just seems as if the best thing to do is to give them a good old-fashioned (all you under-fifty moms who don't believe in corporal punishment cover your eyes and ears now) spanking.  And it must be a full moon, or the madness-inducing weather patterns of El Nino, that brings such a bumper crop of so-o-o-o many cases this week:

• It almost goes without saying that the entire Republican Party needs a swat on the behind because of their collective refusal to participate in government; I won't belabor that further, but Tom Toles's political cartoon today encapsulates the problem.
• One Republican in particular deserves a dozen or so extra whacks: Senator Bunning of Kentucky, who's rather irrationally holding up a jobs bill that could help lots of people. But then, Kentucky has shown they can really pick some gems in the Senatorial category. (This just in: a deal in this odd case has reportedly been reached).
• Get out the hairbrush also for Rep. Charles Rangel, the Democrat who has had, to put it mildly, some ethics problems. Not just Republicans should be calling for his resignation or prosecution.
• Ditto for DC's former Mayor and current Councilman Marion Barry, a serial scalawag whose actions over decades have ranged from infractions to conflict of interest to just plain illegal. The latest: he is said to have obtained a city job for a girlfriend and taken payments from her for doing so. The breaking news is that the DC Council censured him and removed him from office.
• Then we have Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron exec who is now challenging the "constitutionality" of his conviction on a hair-splitting issue (since the basis for the challenge seems so razor-thin, let's use a razor strop on him. Bring along at least five more strops for the majority of "supreme" court justices who in taking on this case would seem bent on ensuring the Court won't have a shred of repute left.

• Last but not least, there are the Hawaiian tour guides who are complaining that the Obama family's vacationing in the state (and the concomitant security measures banning aircraft overflights in some areas) hurt them financially.  They want remuneration ...from someone!  Shouldn't they be proud there's a President who calls Hawaii home?  Haven't other locales put up with such inconvenience? 

  

Sometimes people do such strange things -- so weird, or inexplicable, or stupid, or unprofessional, or petty, that it just seems as if the best thing to do is to give them a good old-fashioned (all you under-fifty moms who don't believe in corporal punishment cover your eyes and ears now) spanking.  And it must be a full moon, or the madness-inducing weather patterns of El Nino, that brings such a bumper crop of so-o-o-o many cases this week:

• It almost goes without saying that the entire Republican Party needs a swat on the behind because of their collective refusal to participate in government; I won't belabor that further, but Tom Toles's political cartoon today encapsulates the problem.
• One Republican in particular deserves a dozen or so extra whacks: Senator Bunning of Kentucky, who's rather irrationally holding up a jobs bill that could help lots of people. But then, Kentucky has shown they can really pick some gems in the Senatorial category. (This just in: a deal in this odd case has reportedly been reached).
• Get out the hairbrush also for Rep. Charles Rangel, the Democrat who has had, to put it mildly, some ethics problems. Not just Republicans should be calling for his resignation or prosecution.
• Ditto for DC's former Mayor and current Councilman Marion Barry, a serial scalawag whose actions over decades have ranged from infractions to conflict of interest to just plain illegal. The latest: he is said to have obtained a city job for a girlfriend and taken payments from her for doing so. The breaking news is that the DC Council censured him and removed him from office.
• Then we have Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron exec who is now challenging the "constitutionality" of his conviction on a hair-splitting issue (since the basis for the challenge seems so razor-thin, let's use a razor strop on him. Bring along at least five more strops for the majority of "supreme" court justices who in taking on this case would seem bent on ensuring the Court won't have a shred of repute left.

• Last but not least, there are the Hawaiian tour guides who are complaining that the Obama family's vacationing in the state (and the concomitant security measures banning aircraft overflights in some areas) hurt them financially.  They want remuneration ...from someone!  Shouldn't they be proud there's a President who calls Hawaii home?  Haven't other locales put up with such inconvenience?