When a priest abuses a little boy, as I reported yesterday regarding such acts by Catholic bishops and Rabbis, the politicians' scandals become less important in comparison, albeit they remain an interesting subject to read about. I will not return to talking about the Israeli President Moshe Katsav (born in Iran as Musa Qassab) and the fact that he raped some of his subordinates, or to any former or current Israeli prime minister, since are all facing charges of corruption. This includes, by the way, the foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. Instead, I will content myself with the news stories that I got from the last two weeks only, including an article about Dan Dankner, the former President of the Israeli Hapoalim Bank, who is being charged with embezzlement. But then, Israel itself is a state of thieves, and the most serious theft taking place there today is that of the homes of the Palestinians, after having completed the theft of their lands. At any rate, I would rather focus on the United States today, especially following its insistence on teaching us the fundamentals of democracy by using lethal force, as we have seen in Iraq, which now occupies the bottom rank of the worldwide corruption perception index, in addition to witnessing daily terrorist attacks. Representative Eric Massa, a Democrat from New York, resigned this month, claiming he was suffering from cancer, when it was believed that his resignation would halt an inquiry by the House's Ethics Panel into accusations that he harassed junior staffers in his office and in the offices of other representatives. Massa is a pervert, a liar and a fool. In an interview with CNN, he admitted that he titillated and harassed a staff member. However, only a few hours later, he claimed in an interview with Fox News that he never harassed anyone. This is while noting that he repeatedly insisted that he never harassed anyone, and that he is guilty of nothing more than using "salty language" with [male] members (it seems that female employees do not interest him) of his staff, in what we would as being ‘spicy'. In other words, what he used was obscene language. However, the ethics panel in the House was equally foolish: after deciding to open an inquiry into the matter, it halted its move following his resignation. However, the Republicans found this scandal to be an opportunity for them. Ultimately, the House voted 402 to 1 on a resolution demanding a resumption of Massa's investigation after his resignation. Perhaps, the strangest aspect of this issue is that the inquiry did not start until recently. For weeks now, everyone who came in close contact with Massa complained about his harassment, and his chief of staff told the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he is concerned, because Massa, who is in his fifties, only pursues young men working in the Congress, and he even invited one of them out to a private lunch. Even more, one of Massa's colleagues from his days in the navy said that the latter used to harass his subordinate officers and shipmates, and during a holiday, Massa shared a hotel room with another officer, and started massaging him, and then suggested they do something obscene. Perhaps Massa would have escaped unscathed had it not been for the Republicans, who found an opportunity for revenge, as the Democrats had exploited a similar opportunity and insisted on opening an investigation when it was revealed that Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican from Florida, sent obscene text messages to young staffers in the congress, and ultimately resigned, because of this scandal. All of the above, which has not ended yet at any rate, coincides with the decision of David Paterson, Governor of New York, not to run for office a second time, after two years in office as Eliot Spitzer's successor, who was caught with prostitutes at a hotel. His successor proved no better, as Paterson admitted to using drugs, and to sexual relations outside of wedlock, while his security detail intervened to stop him from engaging in spousal violence. The above took place also in conjunction with accusations against Sen. John Ensign, for trying to find lobbying work for the husband of his former mistress at a company that sought the senator's help on several energy contracts with the government. I read that the mistress's name is Cynthia Hampton, who is a former Ensign Campaign staffer, and that her husband, Douglas Hampton, is one of the senior staffers at his office. Furthermore, Rep. Kevin Garn resigned from his post as the Republican majority leader of the Utah House of Representatives, after it was revealed that he was in a hot tub with a teenage girl 25 years ago, and that he had paid her to keep quiet about it. When a politician is a sexual pervert, corrupt, fraudulent or shifty, we are not surprised, and instead, we are only shocked when a politician is honest and straightforward. However, the clergymen are a different matter, because if they become corrupted, they leave no room for hope about anyone else. I noticed, as I was following these individuals, that the hosts of American satirical programs on U.S Television share the same opinion as mine, since most of their jokes are about the clergy and not politicians, whose corruption is not quite newsworthy, as it seems. Let me conclude this heavy subject with some humour: - The U.S. Cardinals said they are going to develop a code of ethics to help them deal with the sexual scandals. But wait a minute, I thought that there already was a code of ethics and that it is called the Bible. (Jay Leno) - I read this in the paper this morning: New York City has a priest shortage. So you see, there is some good news in the world. ... To give you an idea about how bad it is, earlier today in Brooklyn, an altar boy had to grope himself. (David Letterman) - They say (the Pledge of Allegiance) violates the separation of church and state. How about the separation of church and altar boy? That is what I am worried about. (Jay Leno). There is more, but the above is more than enough. [email protected]
