Did You Hear The One About The Honest Politician? (It`s A Rhetorical Question)

In 1971, the Byrds sang I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician. These days, one has to ask one`s self: why? The song was a catchy tongue-in-cheek jab at the then current state of American politics. Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon was in the third year of his first mandate. The song was prescient in a way. Two years later Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned amid charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering from his tenure as Maryland's governor. A year later, Nixon himself resigned rather than face certain impeachment over his role in Watergate.

Unfortunately, questionable activities and illegal acts have always been a part of politics. What's even more unfortunate is that they always will be.

Here in Canada several years back we went through the "sponsorship" scandal, undertaken by certain members of the then governing Liberal party. The taxpayer-funded kick-back scheme that funneled cash from the government to ad and marketing agencies and on to Liberal party coffers killed then Prime Minister Paul Martin at the polls, even though he was personally absolved of any involvement the stench of government corruption proved too much for Canadians to pinch their nose and vote. Martin had spent years in the wilderness of the Finance portfolio biding his time and keeping his ambition in check and then - bam - the electorate pulled the prime ministerial rug out from under his feet.

In Britain, that country's answer to Paul Martin, Labour PM Gordon Brown, is about to see the same thing happen to him. In the UK however, taxpayers money didn`t go into Labour`s coffers. It went directly into Members` pockets! Two Ministers, the latest Wednesday, have resigned from Brown`s cabinet for expense irregularities, and many MPs say they won`t run for office again, after having been caught with their fingers in the cookie jar.

Labour has faced the brunt of voter anger against many MPs who have milked the allowances system, claiming from taxpayers the cost of everything from duck houses to cleaning a moat to the rental of porno movies.

You know a prerequisite for politics is having to be smart. But this bunch just isn`t smart enough. They keep getting caught.

Perhaps Roger McGuinn and the boys should have sang: I Wanna Grown Up To Be A Politician!

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born. That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network. And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door. And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran. The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993. I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share. The formula was pretty simple. A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains. The show opened as follows... Imagination Day! Oh boy! You know what happens on Imagination D

My Back Pages - November

I know, I know, I know I should have reported in before now. But sometimes real life just gets in the way. I attempted 5 books in November. I say attempted because I slapped a big DNF (did not finish) on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I just can't seem to get into this guy. It's the second or third of his I've given up on, Not so the other four, starting with a biography of Stephen Stills called Change Partners. This followed by a hilarious biography of the guy responsible for National Lampoon called A Stupid and Futile Gesture - How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. I ended the month reading yet another biography, this one of the man behind Rolling Stone magazine,. It was called Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine. A fascinating read. So last month I hit the magic number 50 I'd imagined for myself back in January. If I roll this month into my yearly total I'm at 54 books. And I still hav

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

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