More flotsam

Henry Cisneros. Remember him? He was Housing Secretary during the Clinton Administration. An Independent Counsel was appointed to investigate his wrongdoing. His crime - he lied to the FBI about how much he paid his mistress. He didn't lie about paying her. He lied only about how much he paid her. For that he was fined five years ago and the case was presumably settled. But no, not so fast. David M. Barrett, the Independent Counsel, is still pursuing the case, although it is not at all clear why. He has spent 21 million on this dastardly crime in the past 10 years and still has not given his report on the case. In effect, he created a law firm with only one client, the U.S. government, with taxpayer's dollars. Clever, no? Ah, these Republicans. They are so clever.

I have to admit I am not at all pleased with Bill Clinton's palling around with the Bushes. It only goes to prove that Clinton has all along been not much more than Republican lite. He was in many respects a good President. At least he more than balanced the budget, put people to work, at least tried to do some medical reform and so on. But, of course, he did it by adopting Republican issues. And he was clever enough to do this all the while maintaining he was a Democrat. But there is no excuse for his slavish clinging to the Bushes who did everything in their power to impeach him and destroy his Presidency. It only proves that he has no genuine commitment to anything other than his own interests. It is like James Carville being married to Mary Matalin. No real commitment to their politics, just opportunism and career choices.

Maybe, just maybe, after the Pope is finally buried on friday, we might actually get some other news. Don't bet on it as they still have to choose a new Pope. I have never regarded myself as anti-Catholic as such, but I confess to believing the now deceased Pope was a full-blown sexist and homophobe, leading an institution that was absolutely Medieval, in which grown men dressed up in fancy expensive robes and presided over an empire which aided and abetted pedophiles. Why is it that in every poor town in Catholic countries the largest, most expensive, elaborate, ostentatious building is an enormous Catholic church? Couldn't all that money have been put to a better purpose? I also confess to finding it absolutely hilarious that after The DaVinci Code sold 25 million copies the church suggested that people not read it. Such is life. Sigh!