The Wall Street Journal raises an interesting question: are knuckle draggers to be held to the a higher standard than those whose sophistication is immeasurbly higher? In an article entitled the Strauss-Kahn Charges, the WSJ argues that the catastrophe that overtook Strauss-Kahn may have had its roots in the blind eye they turned toward his earlier indiscretions. They contrasted this with the the treatment shown to Paul Wolfowitz:
The IMF declined to comment yesterday, but its board should do some soul-searching about the pass it previously gave Mr. Strauss-Kahn. The married Frenchman pursued and had an affair with a senior fund economist not long after taking the top job in 2007. After her husband blew the whistle, the fund board let Mr. Strauss-Kahn off with a wrist slap that he had committed a “serious error of judgment.”
The IMF board’s forbearance contrasts with the way the World Bank pushed out American Paul Wolfowitz as bank president on the pretext that he had secured a raise for his girl friend, though Mr. Wolfowitz had kept bank officials informed from start to finish and had not violated bank policy. The boards of both institutions are dominated by Europeans, who deployed a double standard for Mr. Strauss-Kahn as one of their own.
Especially pungent in retrospect is the report by a consultant to the board at the time that “going forward” the IMF should consider whether its managing director should be held to a “higher standard of conduct” than the staff. A. Shakour Shaalan, the longest-serving member of the board, announced at the time that he had personally told Mr. Strauss-Kahn that “this should not happen again.”
The WSJ once again raises the old charge that there are double standards for behavior between the different political persuasions. In that view liberals “get a pass” or are even genially praised for behavior that would send a conservative to the Federal Penitentiary. It is probably true that higher standards are expected of some. Robin Hanson argues that society varies its expectations by the category of person it judges. “Consider three kinds of celebrities: politicians, athletes, and musicians. We clearly hold politicians to higher moral and social standards than we do musicians. This makes sense because we feel more vulnerable to bad behavior by politicians than by musicians. An out of control politician could kill us all, while an out of control musician would at worst just fail to make music we like.” But this applies to types of professions, not to their espoused ideologies.
The other argument is based on the assumption of a kind of diminished capacity. Is there a “bigotry of low expectations” that surrounds left-wing politicians, entertainers, sports stars and similar figures that shields them from being pulled up on minor infractions because they are creative, edgy and somewhat unstable but cool personalities who cannot be treated like mere mortals? That entitles them to be indulged like children, eccentric geniuses or visionaries? If the IMF’s choice of lawyers is any indication, the IMF chief is placing himself in interesting company. Strauss-Kahn just hired Michael Jackson’s lawyer.
Few criminal lawyers know their way around the New York legal system better than Benjamin Brafman, famed for helping celebrities in serious trouble and chosen by Dominique Strauss-Kahn to defend him on charges he attempted to rape a New York hotel maid.
Brafman is known for either winning cases at trial or negotiating deals.
He represented pop king Michael Jackson in a child molestation case in 2004 before stepping aside, and New York Giants football star Plaxico Burress for carrying a gun into a nightclub that went off when it slipped down his pants. And he won a not guilty verdict for rapper “P.Diddy” Sean Combs, on illegal weapons and bribery charges in a nightclub brawl and shooting that was witnessed by over 100 people.
But some people would argue that the Left Wing/Conservative dichotomy is the wrong standard to apply. What really counts is whether a faction is in power or not. Long before the modern categories of conservative and left-wing emerged, factions were taking care of their own, whatever the stripe. The only reason that liberal political and entertainment figures appear to be given a pass is the fact that liberals have more or less dominated the media these last decades. They are the permanent power in media and all else is sour grapes. If conservatives had dominated it then shoe might be on the other foot. For no one is exempt from the regrettable instinct to favor their own. The terrible effect of a code of silence is evident even in the scandals which have plagued the Catholic church, not just recently, but through history. Secrets are buried, for the good of the service, or rather as it were, to their detriment.
It was a Roman Catholic, Lord Acton, who wrote in regard to his opposition to Piux the IX’s adoption of the doctrine of Papal Infallibility that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by full authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
From that point of view, no one who overlooks a peccadillo is really doing a service. He is just greasing the skids for the bigger one to come. Whether this happened to Strauss-Khan is what the lawyers will talk about, in their parsing, hair-splitting and mincing ways.
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One of the things that really stuck in my craw with Bill Clinton during Monica days, was fact that the Commander in Chief could essentially get away with something that could have gotten me, as an active duty USAF officer at the time, court martialed, convicted of a felony, and potentially locked up at Ft Leavenworth. Of course there is a double standard for our enlightened betters.
What is so disgusting is that most of these people are not ‘elite’ in any sense at all. They are often considered ‘bright’ enough to get into ‘top’ universities but often the play is subtly rigged in their favor; they are not objectively more competent or effective than, say, an engineering student at the U of Nebraska.
Then out into the world where, again, the play is subtly rigged again and eventually to a position of ‘importance’ where they have a car and driver, fly first class, and are constantly sucked up to by rent-seekers, ‘journalists’, lobbyists, and—especially here—the parents of children who hope to follow in their footsteps.
Before very long, given what they’ve always been told by others like them, they begin to see themselves as a sort of Master Race, with a sort of noblesse oblige/white man’s burden to do what they damn well please, knowing that the fix will still be in no matter what. #1 above says it all: they can do what we can’t get away with, which only confirms their worldview over and over.
The Wall Street Journal raises an interesting question: are knuckle draggers to be held to the a higher standard than those whose sophistication is immeasurbly higher?
I didn’t find the word “knuckle” in the WSJ text.
I’d suggest it’s a matter of whether you do or don’t have a democratic system, if the people rule, they enforce on the rulers, even arbitrarily so. If the rulers rule, they are exempt.
As for our own Bubba, I would happily overlook him porking the interns, unless and until it violated some statute, but Bubba should have been tossed for starting to blackmail Lewinsky, for whatever it was they did (I forget already) to Linda Tripp, and for the previous filegate and travelgate, which all involved gross abuse of office.
The EU system is barely democracy, nobody is elected to the IMF by popular vote. SO, we shall see what we shall see. I suppose if Obama has an opinion on the matter, his opinion might prevail. Or Valeria Jarrett …?
I agree that “Christian” Politicians “Must be held to very High standards” while an atheist should not be but a holder of an Office must be held to a minimum of a standard that does not get violated whether you are our are not of the “Higher” standard, that is why now being a “Christian” really means little difference form a non-Christian, Most of today’s “Christian” are at best luke warm and we all know what the Gospels say about “luke warm” faith…
Bill Clinton was a scalawag
A charming, roguish imp
He lined the women ‘gainst the wall
And left them feeling limp
And JFK we will recall
Had White House full of whores
And laughed as we all chuckled at
His claim they’re just on tours
Now Lucy Mercer lived upstairs
But no one did object
The press protected FDR
By being circumspect
And everyone just shook their heads
And laughed and said that’s cool
When Wilbur Mills and Fanne Foxe
Jumped in the Tidal Pool
John Edwards, we all know that song
Ted Kennedy as well
The press would always look away
No story there to tell
Yet should a GOP guy try
The very self same thing
The headlines and the anchor screams
Would make the welkin ring
Yet another example of ‘might makes right’. or. if you will the Golden Rule. Those with the Gold, make the rules. The looney left refuses to see that. Despite having their face rubbed in it almost daily.
That is what scares me about the ’12 elections. Obama has switched to pretty much the Bush policies. He is currently trying to kick start the economy by switching from Socialist economic theory to Capitalistic economic theory. He knows that if the economy doesn’t radically improve he is toast. If it works it will be because the Left doesn’t ask why he didn’t make the switch 2 years ago?
What is even worse is that if he wins, he will immediately drop the Economics that works for his Socialist theories that don’t.
Go figure!
Apart from the sleaze factor there are other concerns when it comes to politicians, executives with fiduciary responsibility and high level military commanders, diplomats or people with high level security clearance.
Blackmail
—whether for espionage, insiders trading, theft of trade secrets — etc.
At least one foreign intelligence agency was aware of Clinton’s affair with the intern and they were listening in on his non secure cell phone conversations with her.
The CEO of HP was fired last year because of concern that he had revealed insider information to ex-porno star “special assistant”.
The “honey pot” is an age old tool of espionage.
The problem in the RC Church was one of homosexuality–90%+ of the victims were adolescent males– an outrage of filth which has been dealt with.
Also the RC Church kept good records and has deep pockets—- which motivated lawyers to go on treasure hunts.
The exploitation of children and adolescence by teachers and religious ministers of all denominations is tragically not uncommon.
In politics in the US Democrats always get a pass
–Kennedy “the swimmer” was a serial lecher, rake and drunk for many decades.
He was expelled from Harvard for cheating–yet he was ” Lion of the Senate”
–Barney Frank, who ran a male escort service out of his home.
–John Edwards could well have become POTUS
–Eliot Spitzer now has his own show on CNN etc, etc.
Republican sinners, in contrast, are cast into the wilderness.
V/7—it was “honey trap”, which was what the old Soviets called it in using sex to compromise someone. At least, that was the female trap, male chump. What they called it with homosexual compromising situations, I don’t know.
@ 7 Victor
–Barney Frank, who ran a male escort service out of his home.
It was Barney Frank’s live-in boy friend who ran the male escort service. When news of the male escort service hit the news, Barney Frank professed ignorance. The scandal had no effect on Barney Frank’s career. Imagine the furor if a Republican congressman had a pimp living with him.
Regarding Ted Kennedy’s drinking: recall that the tabloids used to run a lot of stories on Joan Kennedy’s problems with the bottle. While she probably did have a problem with alcohol, IMHO a lot of those tabloid stories on Joan were planted to try to take the heat off Ted’s womanizing and drinking.
Republican sinners, in contrast, are cast into the wilderness.
Being a Democrat means never having to say you’re sorry.
The Guardian says that DSK’s proclivities were an open secret in Paris.
Gerry Studds, also from MA, screwed a male page and was caught. The House reprimanded him. He told Congress to get stuffed. Was re-elected. So I guess a majority of the voters think that’s cool. Of course, they knew who he was going in, and something like that isn’t going to change their views.
With republicans, if there’s a fault, it’s a new one, or one that’s been hidden.
So the republican voters may well feel they’ve been misled.
A family member who helped take care of Joan Kennedy at the rehab facility said she was the sweetest person to interact with. Ted, on the other hand, was loathsome!
On chastising the bad.
” The middle age stewardess was tired, jaded, and fighting a weight problem. As she proceeded down the aisle after the lunch service, a male passenger stopped her and complained that his chicken was “bad.” She stopped looked down at his tray, picked up the chicken sniffed it, then proceeded to spank it crying out, “Bad chicken!Bad,bad,bad!” then replaced it on the tray, and went her weary way.”
Also about Wretchard’s word play head lines especially “Natural Porn Killer” and the latest “The Wrath of Kahn.”……………Bad Wretchard! Bad, bad, bad!
Roman Polanski raped, drugged and sodomized a 15 yr old girl and was convicted by a CA court
–he fled to France where he was welcomed and made $ millions–he is lauded by the Holly Wood elite.
No doubt the “rutting chimpanzee”–great term–Strauss-Kahn believed he would get the same deal
—the intrepid NYPD got him minutes before take off.
” In ancient Greece, hubris (ancient Greek ὕβρις) referred to actions that shamed and humiliated the victim for the pleasure or gratification of the abuser.
The term had a strong sexual connotation, and the shame reflected on the perpetrator as well.
It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich.
The word was also used to describe actions of those who challenged the gods or their laws, especially in Greek tragedy, resulting in the protagonist’s fall.
Hubris, though not specifically defined, was a legal term and was considered a crime in classical Athens.
It was also considered the greatest crime of ancient Greek society.
The category of acts constituting hubris for the ancient Greeks apparently broadened from the original specific reference to mutilation of a corpse, or a humiliation of a defeated foe, or irreverent “outrageous treatment” in general.
It often resulted in fatal retribution or Nemesis.
Atë, ancient Greek for “ruin, folly, delusion,” is the action performed by the hero or heroine, usually because of his or her hubris, or great pride, that leads to his or her death or down-fall.
Violations of the law against hubris included what might today be termed assault and battery; sexual crimes ranging from rape of women or children to consensual but improper activity, in particular anal sex with a free man or with an unconsenting and/or under-aged boy or the theft of public or sacred property.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
I guess–
@4. CharlesWhite
Exactly. It is not only conscientiously appropriate but Scripturally correct to hold a professed Christian to the spirit (and frequently letter) of their beliefs. Thus, if Strauss-Kahn were a professed believing Christian (as opposed to a “Christian” born with that label, say), his church community should confront him regarding his sin, and eject him entirely if he is unwilling to repent.
This kind of control mechanism is a safety measure not only for the Church as a whole, as the Body of Christ, but as a form of love toward the offending person. How? Because quick, decisive action against offenders is much more likely to affect a positive change (repentance) in their lives than a kind of long, winking approval for “one of us” that gives them time to build a heart hardened by impenetrable habits of evil.
So, back to the topic, if someone claims to follow Christ, put their actions under a microscope and compare them to Christ, regardless of your own faith. Be careful, however, not to compare them with the Christ of Scripture, not some fuzzy metrosexual version cooked up to keep the suburban church-goers asleep and tithing.
What about “judging others”? Paul goes into some length to instruct the churches in how to handle issues of contrary behavior. The imperative being that Christians are required to judge their own for their actions, and hold them accountable according to Scripture. Just as each Christian will be inevitably held accountable, themselves, for their behavior. Note that I carefully emphasize “Scripture” as the standard, not “doctrine”, and “actions” rather than “spiritual state”: by the fruit of a man you may know their heart, but he is responsible to his own master (in this case, a professed slave to Christ).
As for non-believers, Christians are expressly not to hold them to the same standards as themselves, because they are the slaves of Satan, not the slaves of Christ. It is, however, appropriate to hold non-Christians to any standard they apply to themselves. Thus, submergence in (and thus defacto acceptance of) US mores and law means US mores and law can and should be applied to them. Since US mores and law are still based primarily on Judeo-Christian ethics and conscience, there’s a lot of overlap, of course.
Where the left can and should be held up for contempt is in their wrapping of themselves in the aspects of Judeo-Christian mores as being “good”, and then violating both the letter and spirit of those same mores as they like because it is all an act to fool the rubes who trust to be decent. Instead, and in actuality, the left will hold their own to a different sort of mores, and judge them harshly if there are transgressions. Frankly, the left holds itself to account more frequently and more effectively than the Church does virtually anywhere.
And yeah, prohibitions against sexual assault are definitely not on the leftist list of mores. No violation? No problem! The Wrath of Kahn will be righteous indignation that lesser beings are attempting to apply their petty morality to him, the enlightened elite.
–JC
“Strauss-Kahn’s alleged womanising appears to have been an open secret in French political circles for years. Thierry Saussez, a former adviser to Sarkozy, who took part in the TV show with Banon, said: “All this stupefaction from people is sheer hypocrisy. Everyone in Paris has known for years he had something of a problem. Not many female journalists are prepared to interview him alone these days”
the interviews are here (videos):
http://www.agoravox.tv/actualites/politique/article/affaire-dsk-tristane-banon-anne-30223
It seems to me odd that the poor girl that was supposed to be harrassed by DSK is attending Thierry Ardissson’s circle, the man isn’t known to be a morally right person to adress such a witnesses, he is known to be a night clubber addicted, and of the most sulfurous ones, sado-maso, gay, porn…
Now her mother is pathetic too, her daughter didn’t seem to be akward within Thierry Ardisson’s circle ! whose past time is to deride on political and people of the parisian jet set !
Me think, that the socialists are the ones that had the most to gain in DSK misadventure, he wasn’t one of theirs anymore, but on the globalist elite ! but still empech them to have a dream beside their local fiefs
And their hypocrit posture for awaiting DSK as their “leader”, hmm only because he had the right polls for gaining the elections, was though their only opportunity to be at the commands again ! problem they haven’t a personality otherwise that could achieve the deal !
they are all 68retarded losers
DSK was known as a womaniser, if he had many cases, unveiled apart in the political and journalistic parisian middle, he must have been one of these “elected” by the globalist elite, you know those that have a Bilderberg convention once a year !
I don’t regret him ! never liked his upper disdain for the plebe that knows nothing of the “business” !
and don’t worry, he’s got enough money to pay Mickel Jackson’s lawer !
Re #15, JC, “As for non-believers, Christians are expressly not to hold them to the same standards as themselves, because they are the slaves of Satan, not the slaves of Christ.”
Nonsense. I’m Catholic, and I can assure you that your remark in no way reflects Catholic theology, which, concerning non-Christians especially, is quite complex and nuanced. We certainly don’t consider them servants of Satan. Obviously, you are not familiar with the concept of “baptism of desire” nor have you read any of John Paul’s reflections on this subject. Since you don’t know what you’re talking about, please don’t presume to speak for all Christians.
The problem of dealing with morally compromised moral leaders appeared early on, in the Donatist vs. Catholic schism of the early Church. It all started with the Great Persecutions ordered by Roman emporer, Diocletian.
Diocletian ordered that last and the most brutal offical persecution of Christians of the Roman Empire. His intent was to stamp them out, utterly, gloves off. He “launched” with the full might of the empire (which was still vigorous at the time) with the goal of the complete and total eradication of Christianity.
It was ordered that all Christian texts be sought out and destroyed, along with anyone harboring them. Many Christian priests cut backroom deals with the Roman authorities. They’d hand over their texts for destruction in order to spare their congregations.
The Donatists became the sect of Christians who never forgave these priests. To the Donatists any deal with the state was akin to a deal with the devil. The Catholic priests of the day were seen as corrupted, to the point of being liturgically so. Any Church leader who compromised with the authorities compromised himself also, and rendered invalid every office he performed thereafter. Every confession he performed became invalid, and every marriage, and every Last Rite, and in sum everyting down to even (and most importantly) the very mass.
To the Donatists, recognizing the authority of a Catholic priest was akin to recognizing the authority of a Kenyan-born President of the United States, to put a contemporary comparison on it.
St. Augustine, a Catholic in a land teeming with Donatists, innovated a solution in the form of the doctrine of “ex opere operato”. This doctine asserts that what empowers the mass is not the priest. God empowers the mass, the priest is a mere vessel. (This is very logical in the Catholic way of thinking – the Host is the Body of Christ, literally. Priest does not pull that off, Christ does) All focus on the perfection of the priest is focusing on the wrong thing. Priestly functions are offices of God, not of men, yet those who do perform them are bound to be men. They are therefore bound to have warts, and they will never be up to snuff. Ever.
This debate is fascinating. The Donatists had a real point. What if the priestly leaders are a bunch of buggars? The Catholics also had a real point. We must have human leaders, but can you rightfully expect perfection from a human leader?
The save for the Catholics, and it was the move that won in the end, is the liturgical argument. The liturgy’s power is wholly God-based, the priest is a mere conduit.
Liturgy was a big part of life that is now almost totally absent in the modern world outside of old churches (where liturgical debates still rage as hot as they have for centuries). Moderns are happy to call that progress and kick liturgy to the curb as something they’ve “evolved” themselves away from. Liturgy is something absurd and not even seriously entertained as a player among life’s problems. It’s not something moderns “do”.
Or do they?
Whatever the case on that, the old Catholics’ argument had force because they appealed to a higher power beyond themselves. God was the mover of the Church, the ultimate authority behind the offices and rite. For liberals today, Progressivism seems to be the new God. Bill Clinton is case in point. The measure of a politician is his public policy stances. Forget about the Cuban cigars in the Oval Office doing odd things, after all everybody somehow does that. The really import thing is the public policy positions.
So, the liberals have become the Catholics of old? Yes, the argument does seem similar. Switch out authority from God with authority from public policy positions, and they do seem the same. The factor missing, and, again, the mechanism that led to the old Catholic victory, is Liturgy. This is not just too convenient – it’s the one way to blow a fatal hole through the progressive ranks. That’s why the progressive movement has taken pains to get you to believe that liturgy isn’t there at all.
But it is there. For one week, try this experiment. Put on a hat of the old Greeks or Romans. That’s a polytheistic hat that assumes every person you interact with is a “kind” of person. Meaning belong to a sect. They could be tatoo bikers. Yuppie wives looking for granite countertops. Who knows. Go out of your way to cut a broad swath for that week. But as you interact with them do so with one purpose: figuring out what god they worship. Assume they do, the task is figuring out the nature of the god they do worship.
You’ll see liturgy is everywhere, I think. The best defense of any moral leader caught in compromise is the agrument “everybody does it.” The best attack against those persons is to sling back, “Your ideas and you office gave you power. You deserve neither.”
I should add that Catholics don’t refer to themselves as “slaves of Christ” either. We do say that we are all “brothers and sisters in Christ.” I’m pretty sure that a lot, perhaps most, Protestant denominations use this phrasing also. For that matter, we (Catholics) are enjoined to view and refer to Protestants as well as our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Re “Liturgy was a big part of life that is now almost totally absent in the modern world outside of old churches …”
What on earth are you talking about? Liturgy is a big part of the religious life of my parish church down on the corner and at every other Catholic church I know of. To whom are you referring when you say that “moderns are happy to call that progress and kick liturgy to the curb as something they’ve “evolved” themselves away from.” This does not describe any of my fellow parishioners. We don’t kick the liturgy to the curb and I don’t know any Catholics who do. Your remark that liberals have become the Catholics of old is really a stretch, to the point of being incomprehensible.
Roughcoat, I am Catholic, and I am really eager to describe myself as a “slave of Christ”. And I’m also of a view that many, including some who call themselves Catholic, are slaves of the devil.
Catholicism does imply a weird kind of invisible war between Christ and Satan; we’ve got a taste of it. That’s not enough of a taste to sit in judgement of people, and in fact Christ Himself warned us clearly not to sit in judgement of people.
So we have to be on God’s side, and be cool about it. Not compromising out it, but cool about it.
Roughcoat, when I say that liturgy is a denied part of the life of a modern, that does not include you. Moderns are not people you want to be. Thankfully, you are not now.
Peace be with you.
stoicheion, Obama’s tack economical is too late. The damage has been done. Fuel and food are on the rise. The dollar is in decline. Inflation is beginning its cruel workings on those struggling to make ends meet. City, county, and state governments have grim choices ahead. The feds have shot their wad and the only thing left is the wholesale printing of money (which makes the dollars decline and inflation worse). 2012 may make the downturn of late 2008 look the golden days. I for one hope whoever unseats Mr. Obama is aware and up to the task.
I, for one, can’t handle it. I’m not even making sense to Catholics anymore. I’m going to tie a few things up, hop on my Kawasaki KLR650, and hit the road. I swaggered in to make a difference back in 1994, whoo-hoo. I thought stakes compelled me against my will at that point. Truly.
I had no idea I was stepping on a train I couldn’t get off, and one that would never round the upcoming bend.
It might be time to get on the KLR and go places. I hope to see Papa Ray!
I think you may find that the mission to get Osama bin Laden and the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn has raised American prestige in the Third World to heights unprecedented since the invasion of Iraq quite unintentionally. I know the conventional wisdom says that America was hated from the moment it invaded Iraq, but as Lee Smith recounts in his book, the Strong Horse and as I myself witnessed in Lebanon, it positively thrilled much of the Arab street, only they will only confess it in secret.
If you go down to the Times of India you will read comment after comment that says “only in America could such a powerful man be taken off an airplane and made to parade in a police lineup”; “this is true democracy” and “my faith in the world has been restored”. For a world that is accustomed to watching the powerful stamp on the faces of the common man, this the arrest is wonderous, almost unbelievable and nearly on par with the sight of SEALs fleeting through Abbottabad.
I do not say this to prejudge DSK, who may be innocent, only to point out that this is the way much of the world likes to see America; mighty, confident and meting out almost magical justice with seeming effortlessness.
The USS Carl Vinson was recently in Manila, and President Aquino and his cabinet were like delighted kids at an amusement park just waiting to see the F-18s catapaulted off the deck, and the acres of dark gray nonskid-surfaced steel deck dotted with tie-down points, and most of all, though they were requested not to ask, and politely never dreamed of asking, where Bin Laden went to Davy Jones. It was one of those moments when the visitors, in a transformation peculiar to that country, felt proud to be Americans and behaved themselves that way, even if they were technically not.
The truth is that nobody loves an America that goes around shopping apologies. Nor do they like an America that acts like the old Soviet Union. But they do unabashedly love a USA as it dreams to be; with the FBI running down the bad guys and the Marines shooting up the extraterrestrial monsters in Los Angeles. When Superman stands on a skyscraper and proudly proclaims that he aims to uphold Truth, Justice and the American Way he is expressing a secret fantasy felt in so many of the downtroddden parts of the world. “Gee how I wish we had someone like that!” And if you look carefully at the faces staring at the screen, you will see no sophisticated derision; only tears of hopeful joy.
In the context of this post — the astonishing hubris of the people who figure they are our leaders because they’re better and smarter — it seems worth repeating a thought that has been stated here, but i haven’t seen it for a long time.
The Democrats and liberals are behaving as though they don’t expect ever again to have to stand for election.
You don’t need to have used Adobe Illustrator for decades to examine the alleged Long-form Birth Certificate within that software and see plainly that it is a FRAUD. I down-loaded the PDF from the OFFICIAL White House site.
I opened the PDF file in Illustrator CS3, and saw immediately that the one layer comprised ten sub-layers, each of which had various independent elements that could be turned on and off (i.e., “have their visibility toggled on and off.”)
There are white edges around the “cursive” writing as well as many of the “printed” text. There are parts of some entries on one layer, with the balance of that same entry residing on a different layer.
There are scores of these absurdities – constructions, fabrications, white-outs, combinations of obvious cut-out, imported images which exist on layers above the patterned form, et cetera.
I am forced to conclude that the President and his staff (1) are fully aware that this is a fraud so amateurish and crude that any ten-year-old could spot it; (2) They don’t give a crap if some pissant artist or blogger spots the fraud, because they have utter contempt for the United States public, AND (3) They know for a certainty that the miserable traitorous journalists of the Mainstream Press will not comment, investigate or report on the thing.
It really takes your breath away that these bastards would put out a document that’s such a conspicuous fraud. Either they know full well that ANYONE who’s spent more than a month working with Illustrator could see that it is a fake, fraud, lie, forgery and counterfeit, or they are so pathetically amateurish themselves that they are unaware of how transparent the fraud really is.
Either way, it’s terrifying evidence of the low quality of thuggery controlling our government.
wretchard@25
Bingo!
Wretchard refers to a world that is accustomed to watching the powerful stamp on the faces of the common man
It may also be that many in that world also appreciate the way many Americans stand up for the common man. Gerard at American Digest recently posted a video of the spectators at a Red Sox game helping out a buddy: In Gerard’s words, “When this autistic man started having trouble singing the national anthem, something happened that could bring you to tears. Stay with it until the rockets come in with their red glare.”
Video here: http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/grace_notes/something_wonderful_true.php
and if the maid was paid by Wall Street?
today the markets are after the euro again !
It looks like that the new IMF direction will be less cooperant with the EU indebted countries !
I wouldn’t say it’s a exemple of the US mighty democraty, DSK would have been arrested anywhere if a compaint would have been launched for the same facts !
“this should not happen again.”
It depends what the definition of “this” is. Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd were two of the vilest people in DC. They made “waitress sandwiches” to demonstrate their abusive power. They were also reliable votes for abortion, which is considered a sacrament by the Democratic Party.
Didn’t we leave slavery on another thread with OBL?
Thank you, W. for your #25. Once every decade or so we need to hear this.
As to your diminished capacity comment, that may be truer than we think. Adherence to a rule of law requires one to possess a compos mentis, while the hallmark of progressive liberals is they keep trying to fix problems by repeating the old tired, failed solutions over and over again, expecting different results. And wasn’t it Albert Einstein who said that was a sign of something or other?
Btw, preview and edit functions are still AWOL. They need to be sent back to the stockade again.
Edit window for #31 popped up, was blank and action buttons were greyed out. Had to use back arrow to get rid of it.
I see MC is back to the “blame the victim” mindset. How eurocentric of him.
#33
FYI, Marie Claude est une femme.
Missing second sentence from my #30.
In the present case “this” means “getting caught and causing the organization annoying bad publicity that could result in having to talk to tiresome Americans.”
That is what happens when you have to compose on a BBerry because Firefox 4.01 froze on the Mac. Attempting to preserve sessions through Force Quit and Restore is probably a bad idea. Chalk this one up for scientific inquiry.
So does this mean that DSK will now be a shoo-in for next president of the glorious republic?
49erDweet
no, I’m against hypocrits !
I for one intend to steal M.C.’s word, “68retards” for my own use.
Recently the Mayor of Washington DC was arrested by the police for taking part of a protest in front of the Capitol building. This incident barely made a blip here in the States but several news sources in S. Korea mentioned it saying that they needed to see some of that in S.Korea. Even though the Mayor didn’t spend time in jail, the fact that he was arrested for a misdemeanor crime impressed people.
@ 29. Marie Claude
I wouldn’t say it’s a exemple of the US mighty democraty, DSK would have been arrested anywhere if a compaint would have been launched for the same facts !
Roman Polanski would agree, I’m sure.
Phrased another way: let us first have a catalogue of DSK’s behaviors in his home country before we agree with you.
@ 25 Wretchard
Thank you.
Ledge
It is my observation that cronyism starts at the top. It is magnified by top cronies repeatedly getting away with their crimes.
Further, the longer these cronies stay at the top the more copy-cat cronies join the game – they fear no sanctions at all.
Barack 0bama is the top crony who’s gotten away with ghastly things that would have gotten other Presidents impeached. This draws more cronies like maggots crawling over rotting garbage. This must stop.
Gringo
the affair was pasted in the US, and older than 30 years I believe, in France the law is different, for such crime,depends on the gravity, after 7 years, 10 years, 20 years there is prescription ! and no prescription if it is a war crime
“qui veut la peau de DSK ?” should be a brainstorming for Hollywood scenarists apprentices !
The name: “the energy secretary, Chris Huhne,”.
…-
“Huhne’s damning phonecall: Police to investigate claims Cabinet Minister ‘tried to dodge speeding points’”
“Climate Change Secretary accused of cover-up
Lying to police could lead to a jail term for 56-year-old
‘He does drive a bit like a maniac,’ admits ex-wife
Tip-off came from source close to bisexual lover”
“Police will decide this week whether to investigate claims that Cabinet minister Chris Huhne asked another person to take driving penalty points on his behalf for a speeding offence.
Labour MP Simon Danczuk has lodged a formal complaint with Essex Police over the allegations.
The Energy Secretary was not an MP at the time of the alleged incident and denied the claims when they were printed in newspapers last weekend.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1387216/Chris-Huhnes-phonecall-silence-claims-tried-dodge-speeding-points.html
Pic of the climate changer and his wee buggy here:
“Time for a stroll”
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/05/time-for-stroll.html
hey, he was the third top brain of the planet
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/2010globalthinkers
and the first “queue” of the lot (?)
JC in KZ (#15) Ya that’s what I said… Thanks for making it an essay (I try to KISS everything I post, so the ADHD proliferated society can stay focused).
Considering the trouble that the Kan administration is having in Japan I soon expec a headline, “The Wroth of Kan.”
Scythianeedle (#26) ain’t it the truth! (D. Rather was only slightly better with his fakes) Hope you don’t get a visit from “Seal Team Six” and I don’t mean the new “Disney” brand… (really, it’ll be an IRS audit)
Extradition with France is complicated. See the Ira Einhorn Murder Case:
The extradition process, however, proved more complex than it was initially envisioned, and contrasted the different interpretations that France and the U.S. have of the concept of the “right to a fair trial”. Under the extradition treaty between France and the United States, either country may refuse extradition if it finds that the defendant may not get a fair trial.
w@25: But they do unabashedly love a USA as it dreams to be; with the FBI running down the bad guys and the Marines shooting up the extraterrestrial monsters in Los Angeles.
The message is “justice for the common man.” The heroism veneer is fun, but optional.
One of the things you hear coming from other countries, especially third world, is contempt for western rule of law and the hypocrisy of legal remediations that we call justice. In fact, failures of western legal systems are often used to justify the “Strong Man” approach to government, with, one must note with honesty, a measurable amount of wistful agreement from the western world.
The legal system in USA needs work, but the subject is too big to air-brush into generalities so I’ll leave it there. I did want to contrast the “justice for the common man” theme with a core idea of the internationalist approach (from paper linked in earlier thread:)
We should thus embrace the rise of other nations when that rise is powered by expanded prosperity, opportunity, and dignity for their peoples. In such a world we do not need to see ourselves as the automatic leader of any bloc of nations. We should be prepared instead to earn our influence through our
ability to compete with other nations, the evident prosperity and wellbeing of our people, and our ability to engage not just with states but with societies in all their richness and complexity. We do not want to be the sole superpower that billions of people around the world have learned to hate from fear of our military might. We seek instead to be the nation other nations listen to, rely
on and emulate out of respect and admiration.
There are many ways to earn international respect, if one chooses to put it that way (I am ambivalent), but demonstrating the possibility of getting the boot off the neck seems like a good place to start.
In the mid-80′s I was part of a project which delivered grain aid to starving subsistence farmers in western Darfur Sudan. We were headquartered at Nayala. The bags of sorghum were marked US AID from the American people and were signed Ronald Reagan. The villagers would chant Reagan, Reagan, Reagan as the cargo sling/bag gently slid the bags onto the ground. That one project convinced me that the US of A was the saviour of the world. No one else, not the Russians, French, Chinese, British, Brazilians, Indians or anyone else would haul grain across the globe in boats, trains, trucks, airplanes, and helicopter deliver it to villages at the end of beyond without asking a quid pro quo of that village.
This BS of nealing before the world as a tortured soul and exploiter of the poor is a figment of the mind amoung folks that over dose on white wine and bre cheese. Pseudo intellects at best, naive about the workings of the world for sure. We are that shining city on the hill; WE are the ones that have to build fences to keep the world OUT.
Breaking News:
Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn have proof the IMF chief was at a restaurant having lunch with his daughter at the time he was alleged to be sexually assaulting a hotel maid, France’s RMC radio reported on Monday.
45/toadold – Considering the trouble that the Kan administration is having in Japan I soon expect a headline, “The Wroth of Kan.”
If he winds up in really “deep ramen” perhaps it will be “The Broth of Kan”…
Forget about whether or not we are a democracy. We are not. We are a republic. At least that’s what the framers envisioned.
Only with a republic are we assured that the rule of law may be enforced with uniformity, while a democracy can change with the winds.
Unfortunately, all of the left and many neocons envision democracy as the penultimate form of government. This gave rise to usurpation by legislators.
Perception becomes reality.
YBR (#50) Wonder if the Hotel Cams will show that this man can be in two place at once! (I heard only BHO has the ability to be on both side of an argument at once and still be in the middle (neutral)…
CW@53: The cringe factor is going to be reminiscent of the OJ trial.
Don’t forget restaurant staff with faulty memories.
Of the leaders of socialism.
Canada’s socialist leader: Taliban Jaqcues Bloc: “naked”.
IMF’s French socialist leader: DSK: “naked”.
Socialist wanna-be President/Prime Minister: Wanna-Be Emperors Without Clothes.
A Juxtapose >..
…-
“Kelly McParland: Some weird theories on Dominique Strauss-Kahn”
“There is something about the weekend scandal involving IMF head (and would-be French president) Dominique Strauss-Kahn that is more than just ordinarily bizarre.
The guy was staying in a $3,000-a-night hotel suite. If you’re in a position to command a $3,000-a-night hotel suite, and you find yourself suddenly desperate from some extra-marital comfort (if you can call it that), wouldn’t you find a better way than running down the hallway naked and throwing yourself on the first person you come across? If you’re the head of the IMF, aren’t you supposed to be smart enough to know there are alternatives? Even Tiger Woods knew that.
Besides that issue, there are a number of other questions, and/or possibilities/ and/or wild flights of fancy that are too much fun to ignore.”
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/05/16/kelly-mcparland-weird-theories-on-dominique-strauss-kahn/
…-
“Of Sex, Massage, Jack Layton, and Scandal”
“… Mr. Layton, ostensibly there for a shiatsu massage (which traditionally doesn’t require the removal of any clothing, let alone all of it) was lying naked on a bed;”.
“First of all, a massage therapist will never ever let you be completely naked during a treatment.”
http://www.kenshim.com/2011/05/sex-jack-layton/
Db@49: This BS of [kneeling] before the world…
My gut reaction to the internationalist ‘play nice and make nice’ platform is that that approach is more properly utilized at a different level of engagement, say, for simplicity, the personal level, not the sovereign level where, imo, a muscular stand is required.
My view is that globalized markets were premature – at a minimum, the labor dislocations could have been phased in, but that’s not how we do things. So be it.
My further opinion is that some version of the ‘play nice make nice’ geopolitical state will eventually be achieved, but not in my lifetime. If we allow the same mistake of prematurely reaching for this end state, the results will be devastating, not just for this country, but for all countries who look to the American experiment for hope.
I therefore support no plan, agenda, or proposal that impacts the strength of our military. Granted the inefficiencies of procurement demand reform. That is not the same as reducing force capacity. Granted we implement military solutions more effectively than the other components of DIME. That needs to be rebalanced, but not to the extent that our force strength is emasculated.
Speak softly and carry a big stick. [apparently picked up by Teddy Roosevelt in Africa]
It’s neither novel nor out-of-the-box, but it still works for me.
#37. MC:
Mille pardons, mademoiselle. Moi aussi.
“Donald Trump would be better for America than Barack Obama.”
“Donald Trump has taken a pro-life position. He believes that we are getting shanghaied by China, which I agree with,” said Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor. He also said that the real-estate mogul has the business experience that would help make him a good president.
Huckabee also referenced loss of family privacy as one of the key factors leading to his decision not to run. Blowback from the birth certificate issue, the two key barriers to entry being money and privacy.
The other theme raised by Huckabee being the necessity of putting ‘business’ expertise in the White House, which, of course implies someone with a background similar to Herman Cain. A businessman comes with baggage that GOP won’t tolerate. Maybe that is why the Republican Party can’t back a viable candidate.
W: “I do not say this to prejudge DSK, who may be innocent, only to point out that this is the way much of the world likes to see America; mighty, confident and meting out almost magical justice with seeming effortlessness.”
I’ve descended into a sardonic slough of despond, assuming the worst, or the obvious, i.e., the usual “cui bono.”
IMF pressured out Wolfowitz with support from “elite” and liberal opinion.
Strauss-Kahn is cornered, set-up, whatever, with Obama once again exhibiting the brass knuckles that we’ve seen over and over for two and half years. Strauss-Kahn pulled off a plane? With whose o.k.? Count IMF as yet another liberal constituency brought into line by the Chicago guy. The bankers have money. The unions have their deals. Obama has power. That is the Mayor Daley deal, the only deal.
Evidence? Look to see who’s the next IMF appointment. Would you bet on another brie-eater or a Trumka-type?
Orrin Hatch, who always wanted to play by gentlemen’s rules, is admitting the obvious: “They want to intimidate all of the corporations in this country and other businesses from giving money that might help Republicans. And they know it’s unconstitutional what they’re doing, they know it’s wrong, but they’re going to go do it anyway, because it’s political time to them. And frankly, it’s been political time from Day One with this president. They play politics very, very tough, they play it well, and they don’t give a damn about what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Assange, via a rape charge, was brought to heel. Now it’s Strauss-Kahn. Not that they might not be guilty. But then Bubba might have been, too, and he’s walking free. And always looking over his shoulder at the Chicago guy.
The Shire needs some scouring, but I fear that it’s not coming soon enough. We’ve all been slimed, and bad.
The Shire needs some scouring, but I fear that it’s not coming soon enough. We’ve all been slimed, and bad.
In the 24 hours after the DSK arrest I got the impression that the administration and the French government were not bending over backwards to help this guy. That is of course what they are supposed to do, not to interfere, but if they really wanted to spring DSK more could have been done. At the very least they could have kept him out of the hoosegow for 24 hours while the question of diplomatic immunity was under study and to give the IMF board the opportunity to invoke or waive any claim. That would have put things on a track that the local cops could not wholly control.
I don’t think anybody necessarily set him up. But they knew his weaknesses and simply decided not to catch him this time. Articles in France say that it is not so much French attitudes so much as privacy laws which are responsible for the permissive atmosphere in which DSK flourished. The lid was on everything. All they had to do was not keep the lid on.
Historically, the fall of DSK echoes many of the elements in takedowns in the Middle Ages or the Stalin Era. “Comrades! He was living a life of debauchery!” As if it were news, but it is news when it is convenient. The Global Elite can purge themselves.
Or maybe it is nothing so complicated, simply the case of a man who have gone too far, having long forgotten the customary limits. The Greeks had a name for it: hubris. And where hubris can be found, nemesis is not far away.
I’ve always liked Madame Nhu’s riff on Lord Acton: “Power is wonderful. Total power is totally wonderful.”
Aardvark (#59) said “But then Bubba might have been, too, and he’s walking free. And always looking over his shoulder at the Chicago guy.” Do you realize the revolt this would cause if BH0 tried to prosecute “Bubba”! For a sitting Prez to reach back and “Do anything” to a former Prez would end America, now if a “Congress” was to investigate and prosecute a former Prez that would probably be a very loud Howling from his party but not a violent ruckus that would follow BH0 trying to prosecute GWB. I don’t think “Bubba” gives one thought to BH0… Why would he, BH0 would be looking in the “57 states” he visited back in 2007… BH0 would never find him there….
The word we don’t like to use anymore:
I recently spoke with a Western diplomat who has served in the Middle East for many years. The subject was the tumult of the “Arab spring.” Far from welcoming the fact that Arabs were freeing themselves from decades of repression, he seemed almost to lament it. He didn’t begrudge them their freedom, but it came at a cost, he said. What precisely? “The S word,” he said. “The word we don’t like to use anymore — ‘stability.’ “
This is where, yet again
, I get to trot out my anecdote about throwing a member of the Kennedy inner circle down a flight of stairs for attempting to rape my female housemate.
I’ll be honest, I feel very priviledged to have caught one of these “elites” in flagrante delicto, and in meting out street-level punishment when he dared me to intervene. I have never been in awe of the powerful.
The man in question had FDR for his godfather, appeared twice on the cover of Time, and was the originator of the concept of strategic airlift. The Grand Marshall of the Harvard Class of ’41 (JFK’s class), he slid down into the depths in later life, until finally he found himself crumpled at the bottom of my stairs. All too many of our political and leadership class are Greek tragedies waiting to happen.
“[L]e grand séducteur” or “rutting chimpanze”?
If there is a silver lining to this sordid episode, it is that l’affair DSK provides an opportunity to shine a harsh light on the tacit condonement of sexual abuse in the world’s theoretically-charitable institutions ranging from the U.N. to the Peace Corps. While the vast majority of the victims have suffered in anonymous silence, DSK can provide a very famous face and ample publicity to this dirty little secret that has been kept for far too long–and if this case can force some much-needed reform and [accountability] then Strauss-Kahn may finally do some good, however unwillingly.
Maybe women are the first step.
“Maybe that is why the Republican Party can’t back a viable candidate.”
Both outrageous AND erroneous. It is May 16, 2011. IIRC, the first Republican candidate declared June 12 for the ’08 election. It was Mitt.
The Democrats don’t have President Bush to run against this time. They can’t run on the issues because they have been wrong on EVERY single one. So the Donks can either throw in the towel or go straight to the mud wallow. Naturally, they will go for the Mud. So the Left is eager to start mud slinging. Their problem is they lack targets.
So they have all their 5$ per post guys out beating the bushes in search of a candidate to destroy.
Republicans have a host of viable candidates, if by viable you mean one who can beat the Obomination. Some of them are even conservative.
The first talent contest is in August, the first primary is in Jan, 2012. Lots of time left. No POTUS has been re-elected with unemployment above 7.5%, Another clue will be where O’s poll numbers are Nov. 2011. NO POTUS has been re-elected who had a double digit unfavorable-favorable negative. Right now his numbers are marginal. If he can’t get them up the next 6 months, OR they grow, he is doomed.
Stuffing the ballot box won’t help when you are down 10 million votes.
The Next POtus has yet to declare their candidacy.
Of those declared, Cain or Paul could beat OBobo.
stoicheion, I wish I’ve had your confidence.
@John61: I’ve always preferred Frank Herbert’s version, as found in the original Dune series:
“Power attracts the corruptible, and absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible.”
The only person on the informal candidate roster who lacks the ‘establishment baggage’ is Palin.
GOP strategists can go:
‘young establishment’ with a Ryan or Daniels, or
‘old establishment’ with Romney, or
ancien regime with Newt or Paul, or
‘new establishment’ with Cain or someone like him, or
they can elect to rob the cradle with a Rubio (40) or Haley (39).
In lieu of finding an outsider who can be groomed in 12 to 18 months, that’s it.
Speaking of Subtlety:
In describing the intense lobbying efforts by Comcast last year to close its merger with NBC Universal, legal scholar Susan Crawford put it this way to the New York Times: “It’s about as subtle as a wet fish in the face.”
That makes last week’s announcement by Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker the proverbial Mack truck. Baker is resigning to take a top lobbying position at …NBC Universal in Washington, just months after she voted to approve the deal.
………….
[Researchers] charted the top salaries of financial regulators versus the top salaries of those they regulate on Wall Street. From 1949 to the late 1970′s, there was almost no gap. But the divide cracked open in the late 1970′s, and grew larger until it exploded starting in the early 1990′s.
Regulatory capture is the focal point of Washington dysfunction. Until it is fixed, nothing will change.
1) The girl Polanski raped was 13, and she asked him to stop through out her ordeal.
2) Where is Papa Ray?
3) Wretchard does write beautifully.
It is to be hoped that there are actual women paying attention to the two-faced perfidy of the Left. There must be a growing number who have noted that the so-called feminists will betray and excoriate ANY woman who dares to accuse a sainted liberal icon of rape or sexual misconduct. Ditto all the other Dems, Leftists, Marxists, and Liberals. And especially Ditto the vicious bastards in the media.
Surely there are mature women who see through the lies and posturing, and grasp that the Left do not give a flying ƒ*@k about anything but gathering power unto themselves. The Left has shown over more than a century that they will commit any atrocity, betray any ally, torment any innocent, embrace any lie, and abandon any ethic in order to gain advantage over decent folk or bastards alike. To them, there is NO HIGHER MORALITY than crushing their opponents.
This explains the superficial affinity between the Left and the Jihadists. When they have eliminated their mutual enemies, you can be certain they will turn on each other with a vengeance.
When the Communists have come to power, they have almost invariably murdered, imprisoned, and disappeared groups that allied with them in the struggle for power. Conversely, once the Islamic Revolutionaries had come to power in Iran, they rounded up the Communists, Marxists, and Leftists along with the Christians, Zoroastrians, the followers of Bahá’u'lláh, and Iranians showing too much Western influence. Are there any Islamic Arab countries that suffer a domestic communist party?
Whiskey would have pointed out that there are lots of women who are perversely attracted to Bad Boys, bastards — the worst sort of human. Who can argue? My dear brother has pointed out that the wives of the great Conquerors never seemed to stamp their little feet, pout and tell their men they weren’t getting any more nookie until they apologized for all the heaped skulls and gave back the loot they’d stolen… Well, naturally, there are lousy humans of both genders.
Monica Lewinsky never called Bill Clinton “a rutting chimpanzee.” Heck, she thought she found a “mate for life.” And, talked about her sexual escapades to anyone who would listen. Linda Tripp was one of these females. She went to the CIA. And, they gave her recording equipment.
Getting Monica “started” about the bent one was easy. And, Linda Tripp provided Monica with the advice NEVER to throw out the blue Gap dress.
It’s an amazing thing how one piece of evidence emerges.
In France? A beautiful woman tells how, in 2007, “the rutting chimpanzee” was DKS. Dominating Domin-icky has been brought down from his tree.
Just as a hotel massues is believed today! She didn’t want to be groped by Al Gore. Whose hard on need “chakra.”
Shows ya that a Nobel prize doesn’t cover a putz.
@44. CharlesWhite: You’re welcome. Unpackaging issues is not for the ADHD crowd.
@17 Roughcoat:
Dear Roughcoat, I’m not interested in nuancing a matter that Paul puts quite plainly–bluntly, even–in Romans. I’m also not a Roman Catholic, and prefer to take the Berean approach to teachings, which is to “[search] the scriptures …, to see whether [these] things are so” (Acts 17:11).
If you’d like to discuss matters of doctrine or faith, or even vent about things that trouble you, I am at your disposal as a fellowservant/slave/brother. Wretchard has my email.
–JC
“I wouldn’t say it’s a exemple of the US mighty democraty, DSK would have been arrested anywhere if a compaint would have been launched for the same facts !”
Not according to Levy at the Daily Beast. According to him only the better sorts of people are allowed to accuse DSK.