Worse Than in the Old Days? Part I

My elders used to say that everything was going to hell and that it wasn't like that in the old days. Whether it was jazz music we were playing or the fact that we used rough lanquage or that our manners were not quite up to speed. That is the reason that in my advancing age I am slightly hesitant to say that the moral and ethical climate and standards in the United States has sunk to a new low, lead by, but by no means confined to, the deadbeats in the Bush administration.

A few examples in recent day: there is "Going, Going...." Gonzales - little Alberto testifying before Congrass that he knew nothing about the plan to remove a number of U.S Attornets across the country It turns out that his Chief of Staff briefed him regularly on this subject over a period of months. There were also e-mails to and from Harriet Myers ( before her abortive run at the Supreme Court) that spell out his knowledge of this plan. Some of the e-mails unfortunately have been "lost".

Then there is Wolfowitz ( who was not awarded the Medal of Freedom as was George Tenet, but instead was sent over to the World Bank ( tax free substantial salary) to make sure World Bank subsubdies went to nations who toodied up to George Bush. Wolfie also wanted to clean up favoritism and individual corruption at the Bank, but conveniently forgot that these standards also would apply to him. So when he participated in arranging a new job and a very high salary for his girl friend, he first denied he had anything to do with this.
Another bald face lie which he had to retract very quickly. In my view Wolfie is "toast" altho the mechanics of removing him may take a few weeks..........At least Joe Bolton (who as Bush appointee as Ambassador to the UN showed again Bush' contempt for all international institutions and agreements) stuck by his own nutty ideas of not talking to countries like Iran and North Korea. Bolton was described by one of his colleagues in the State Department as a "kiss up. kick down " kind of a guy. A new and valuable description of certain people we have all had to deal with from time to time.

I don't belief it was like this in the old days. We had FDR as President for thirteen years and there was hardly any scandal in high places. Sumner Wells, a very high official in the State Department , was said to be 'gay" - altho that word had not yet been corrupted, and was said to have had an affair with a Pullman porter and was thereafter sidelined. One can't imagine Henry Stimson or George Marshal or the "the old curmudgeon", Harold Ickes being caught in any kind of lie. Henry Stimson once said that gentlemen did not read other gentlemen's mail and there fore disapproved of some intelligence techniques. It really wasn't this bad in the old days.

Then we have the Vice President. Tim Russert asked him if he had spoken to his close associate Sootter Libby since he had been convicted of a felony and , many people think, had lied to protect Cheney. No, he had not spoken to his old associate. There"wasn't any reason to". That is not a matter of ethics; it is a matter of decent human conduct.

But move on from Government. You remember Enron and the likes. And now find out that many respected companies are accused of and some have admitted pre-dating stock options so the option holder could not just make a little money, but make a real killing and a sure thing. Now have Halliburton and the non-competitive contracts to do work in Iraq and than on top of that double-billing.

Finally - for now - the Universities are far from scandal free. Administrators bought and sometimes asccepted as gifts stock in one of the companies providing student loans -as clear a conflict of interest as one can imagine. It was easy for them to give the company a preferred postion. We have not seen that last of this one by a long shot.

Then - not quite in the same category - is the CEO of Ford who got paid 28 million dollars for four months work. This may not be stealing, but only because the common law under which we operate could not imagine such a deed. To be continued ----Part One