Wine From Outer Space

Wine From Outer Space is intoxicating, unearthly and surprising. It's also where I write about whatever I choose, and that's nice.

10 November 2005

Ethics for Dummies, pt. 2

George W. Bush has directed that all White House staff attend ethics classes in light of the CIA operative leak that led to the Lewis Libby's indictment. Unfortunately, Bush and vice president Dick Cheney are exempt from these refresher courses.

It seems to me an obvious course of conduct in any business, and perhaps most certainly if you're working in the White House, that lying, obfuscating, interfering with inquiries or in any way barring the way to the truth is detrimental to your job performance. Sadly, I'm naive. It would seem so by examining this administration, at least, as my own personal ideas of what would be right or wrong so glaringly clash with the actions and attitudes of Mr. Bush's White House.

About a week ago a story appeared in the news in which a former State Department official described his impression regarding policy directives in that branch. He noted that Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld formed what he called a "cabal" and were effectively calling of the shots, and that Bush would lend voice or pen to make their skullduggery a reality of action. This has been the joke even when Bush was running for President, that his more experienced and sly partners would serve to pull the strings; Bush would simply be the face-man. And what a face! From his blinding intellect to his dazzling use of rhetoric and oratory, Bush has fooled us all for several years.

So now as White House staffers convene in conference rooms and cafeterias, as they open their books to chapter 1 to learn about the Golden Rule and the ABCs of ethical comportment, the voters are supposed to now feel some sense of relief, of the ship being righted. I think the very notion that (1) ethics must be taught to these people, and (2) that ethics are being taught now, five years into Bush's presidency, is alarming.

Well, I guess we have more disturbing things to think about anyway--the logistics of cleaning up and rebuilding the Gulf Coast, the Iranian nuclear program, US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, possible US military presence in Syria, and that pesky bin Laden fella. Actually the Bush administration is going to announce that they're turning over the search for Osama to OJ Simpson, who's been sleuthing it up for years now.

Three more years...I've never awaited an election year with greater anticipation...