Nation: CNN reports that “Kristen,” the call girl who New York Gov. (until Monday) Eliot Spitzer hired in a move that lost him his career, is an aspiring singer. Is it prophetic for Spitzer that her MySpace page has the motto “what destroys me, strengthens me”?
World: The Jerusalem Post links events that might be coincidence or else they’re related. At issue is “the timing of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit here next week, coming right after Tuesday’s resignation by Adm. William J. Fallon as America’s chief military commander in the Middle East.”
“After leaving Israel,” the Post continues, “Cheney journeys to Saudi Arabia and Oman — the latter the site of four air force bases strategically situated on the Straits of Hormuz, right across from Iran, and regularly used by the US military for refueling, supply storage and logistics. Both nations would play key roles in the run-up to any military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the timing of Cheney’s visits there, combined with Fallon’s farewell, has raised red flags in Washington and elsewhere that they may be signs Bush has taken a strategic decision to move against Teheran before leaving office.”
Business: Bloomberg.com reports that in response to the dollar reaching its lowest mark against the yen since 1995, President Bush said the dollar is “adjusting.” According to Greg Gibbs, a currency strategist at ABN Amro Holding NV in Sydney, “The dollar looks in real trouble and there is no obvious resistance level against the euro.”
Election 2008: This is becoming like a round of “I’ll see you and raise you” campaign poker. After Sen. Barack Obama’s aide resigned for calling Sen. Hillary Clinton a “monster” last week, now former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro has resigned from Clinton’s camp for saying “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” The Associated Press (via Breitbart.com) reports Ferraro’s resignation letter fires a closing shot: “The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won’t let that happen.”
Health: The BBC reports that kindergartens and grade schools have closed for the Easter holiday early after three children died of a flu-like illness. “Experts are investigating a link to either bird flu or Sars, a respiratory disease that hit Hong Kong in 2003,” the BBC says.
O P I N I O N
There she was again, standing by her man on Wednesday as she had done two days earlier.Puffy eyes, hair uncharacteristically messy, Silda Spitzer barely resembled the vibrant woman who was the host for a summit last summer that aimed to retain young workers called “I Live NY.” After all the shame she’d already endured, why did she have to be dragged into this dog and train-wreck show before the media?
You look at her and wonder what the heck is Spitzer’s problem. Silda is beautiful, intelligent and a successful lawyer. He tosses her and his career aside for expensive romps with a stranger?
It’s interesting to note the subtle shifts in how some pundits have reacted to the news. Now it’s morphing into oh, Mr. Spitzer obviously has a problem and hints are made that maybe he has a health condition that made him take such insane risks. Well that ain’t no new condition, honey, it’s been around for the ages. It’s called power, and when it is earned some think it comes with a license to act above the law.
On a Buffalo newscast, a man interviewed about his opinion on the Spitzer situation said that every time he goes to a Sabres hockey game, he passes the same penniless guy begging for change for a cup of coffee. (Buffalo is one of the hardest-hit cities in upstate NY.) It didn’t escape the interviewee’s attention that while the state is falling apart and this poor man can’t rustle up 75 cents on his own, the governor was out spending thousands on his whore.
Such arrogance.
Unfortunately, it’s an arrogance that too often comes with many politicians. They’re the type that must have that “trophy wife” for the photo ops but go elsewhere to puff up their egos. Silda Wall, girl you deserve much better!
Feed me 5 Under the Radar
