Bush,
Martha, The Blairs, Zora and WMD'S
By Allan P. Duncan
June 9, 2003 OpEdNews.com
Americans react to scandals and lies in strange and peculiar ways. There
have been many scandals involving lying and cheating in the headlines
lately, and it's interesting to note how the media and the public use
different standards to judge the people at the center of these
maelstroms.
I've never been particularly fond of Martha Stewart, but it bugs me the
way she is being made an example of, while "Kenny Boy" Lay who
cleaned out the pension fund of thousands of his workers is allowed to
walk free. Something stinks here and I think I know the reason why.
Martha should have worn a cowboy hat and chaps, and spent more time
teaching folks the finer points of barbecuing Texas style instead of
coming off like some uppity Connecticut Yankee. It also wouldn't have
hurt if she had thrown a few ducats towards Bush the way Kenny did.
There's a profound lesson to be learned here kiddies, and that is to
make sure you grease the palms of Republicans so that you can get an
officially sanctioned "Get Out of Jail Free Card" the next
time you screw up.
The Jayson Blair scandal also bothers me. I'm not condoning the fact
that he plagiarized and lied about articles he wrote for the New York
Times, but Tony Blair (no relation to Jayson) apparently used a crudely
plagiarized twelve year old report from an American grad student that
was swiped off the internet, and claimed that it was an official British
intelligence document to justify going to war with Iraq. Colin Powell
also used information from a plagiarized intelligence report that
indicated that Iraq had tried to secure materials for nuclear weapons
from Niger.
Today we hear that intelligence officials believe that the two trucks
found in Iraq, thought to be mobile bioweapons labs, are most likely
trucks used to produce hydrogen for artillery balloons. These trucks
were also supposedly sold to Iraq by the Brits in 1987. Most Americans
are also unaware that it was the Reagan Bush Administration that gave
Saddam bio and chemical agents in the first place and did absolutely
nothing to stop him from using them against the Iranians and the Kurds
since Saddam was our butt buddy back then. Ever seen the photo of
Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand back in the 80's? Ahhh, those were the
days.
Jayson Blair lost his job and has been dragged through the mud for weeks
now. The credibility of the New York Times had been seriously damaged
and yesterday two of its editors resigned in shame. George Bush, Colin
Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Tony Blair and
others have repeatedly lied by using bogus intelligence to justify going
to war with Iraq and to date not one of them has admitted to any
wrongdoing and none of them have been forced to step down the way those
from the New York Times have.
Is lying about the facts contained in a newspaper article worse that
lying about the facts contained in an intelligence report? You would
think so by the fact that the person who wrote the articles along with
some of his superiors are gone now, while those who lied about the
reasons for going to war still have their jobs and profess no guilt over
the fact that thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed and that American
soldiers continue to come home in body bags because of their lies.
It also seems to me as though President Clinton was held to a much
higher level of accountability than out current President. Clinton
actually went through impeachment proceedings for lying about a
consensual relationship, and had to endure the forty million dollar
witch hunt known as "Whitewater" for years.
Bush on the other hand, has openly lied about Iraq's possession of WMD's
and has also cited "Executive Privilege" which enables him to
slither away from revealing what he knew about warnings of attacks by Al
Qaeda prior to 9-11. Some of us know what he knew, and know why he is
trying so hard to cover his ass.
If Bush acknowledged that he knew about these warnings, he would then
have to explain why he didn't warn the American people of impending
attacks and why he didn't enact safeguards to protect the American
public on 9-11. As Commander in Chief, he would also have to
answer to the fact that our air defense system and our entire national
security apparatus was totally impotent on 9-11, despite the fact that
he made defense spending a priority over all else.
Reality TV has also become more popular in America and some of these
shows have used deceit and lies in an attempt to secure high ratings. I
guess they are a metaphor of sorts and a reflect our society as a whole.
As above, so below as the old adage goes, which leads me to Zora.
I bet you were wondering who the hell Zora is, and what does she have to
do with Bush, Martha, the Blairs and WMD's? Well be patient for a few
moments and I'll tell you her story.
Joe Millionaire was a wildly popular show on Fox this past season, which
used a lie as its premise. Evan "Joe Millionaire" Marriott was
passed off as a wealthy young man living in a chateau in France, while
in reality he was a construction worker from California who made
nineteen grand a year. A bunch of beautiful women from the states were
brought over to the chateau to vie for his hand. One of them was Zora
Andrich, from Lambertville, NJ. I happen to live in New Hope, PA which
is directly across the Delaware River from Lambertville and our towns
are connected by a common bridge. I got hooked on the show because of
the local girl angle and rooted for her all the way.
Zora was the only one of the women who refused to abandon her ideals and
make an ass of herself. While other girls stripped down to thongs
and bikinis in an attempt to seduce Joe, Zora remained a lady at all
times. It was also revealed that Zora had a tough childhood and lived a
humble lifestyle. She was a substitute teacher and took care of senior
citizens in Lambertville and was known to be a selfless soul. People
that I know, who know her, raved about what a wonderful person she was.
I thought for sure that Joe would pick one of the bimbos or sluts, but
much to my amazement he chose Zora. For once my faith in mankind was
restored, as the supposed horndog Evan Marriott chose a woman of
substance over a woman who had appeared in soft porn foot fetish films.
To top off the fairy tale, Evan and Zora were given a million dollars to
split. I have to admit that I got a little misty eyed and a bit
verklempt when I saw the local girl receiving a gift that would give her
financial security and gave her more options on what she could do with
her life.
Needless to say, Lambertville went bonkers when Zora was chosen and she
was given a day of her own where she rode through the streets in a horse
drawn carriage. I made a sign that proclaimed "Yo Zora, You Coulda
Had Me" with an arrow pointing down, but I ended up having to work
that Saturday and was forced to miss her special day. I told friends of
mine, that all Zora had to do was walk across the damn bridge and she
might have found me if she had been lucky, but I guess it just wasn't in
the stars.
Two days ago I was coming out of the CVS in New Hope and saw a vision of
loveliness walking towards me from the direction of the parking lot. It
didn't dawn on me right way, but as I cast another glance towards her I
could have sworn it was Zora! She was wearing a faded pair of jeans and
an olive green Army tank top and didn't appear to be wearing any make
up. When I realized that it must be Zora, time itself seemed to slow
down as the sun highlighted her long windswept chestnut hair, creating
shades and hues of auburns and golds that literally took my breath away.
I swear to you that she was more beautiful in person than she appeared
on Joe Millionaire and this was sans makeup, hair and wardrobe stylists
who are paid lots of money to make people look great on TV. Zora really
did appear to be humble and down to earth and hadn't gone Hollywood on
us afterall, as some had feared.
I glanced back at her one more time as she entered the store and felt
compelled to yell out "Yo Zora, you coulda had me", but
didn't. I respected her too much and didn't want to invade her privacy
so I just let it go. For once in my life I showed a bit of class.
So that's how Zora ended up in this essay. I had to brag to the world
that I saw her somehow. Seriously though, Zora does in fact represent to
me all that is good in America, and I just wish that more of our leaders
and politicians lived up to the ideals that most of us were taught as
kids and quit playing games with us like we're stupid or something.
America would be a much better place if they did.
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Allan
Duncan is a Social Worker who lives in New Hope, PA. This
article is copyright by Allan Duncan ADuncan282@aol.com
originally published by opednews.com
Permission is granted to forward this or to place it on a website as
long as the article is included intact, including this statement.
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