Here in the Further South, it's been a discouraging week for the Republican Party. A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, Hawai`i was a lock for all things Democrat. Please don't misunderstand me. We've had our fair share of Democrats we'd like to forget. But under our current bright red Republican Governor, Linda Lingle, we're seeing some hard things, and I can't help but feel that we're all suffering under the umbrellic glow of a pall settling over the US under bu--sh-- inc. It's a trickle-down effect: morality and ethics are awash in this country, morale is low. Our president is setting this tone, this dark mood, from the top down.
You can read about the fate of Dalton Tanonaka and Galen Fox here:
Tanonaka Sentenced to 3 Months in Prison
Lingle: Fox Made "Correct" Decision
Tanonaka, a former reporter who was one of very few Western journalists ever to do a documentary in North Korea, had major money problems. Fox could not keep his hands to himself when he most needed to do so.
We here at The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy Office & Scotch Tape Shoppe are not celebrating any of this news. It is sobering, and it is depressing. Our country is experiencing an extraordinary moral and ethical meltdown. Republican Party Chair Sam Aiona said he "felt sorry for Tanonaka and his family, but said Tanonaka will have to 'live with the decision.'"
While this is surely true, the larger truth seems to us to be that we are all having to live with the sad consequenses of unwise politicians' decisions. The signs of political decay are burgeoning, and we are forced to live through each new instance of that decay while our individual and collective psyches attempt to cope with absorbing the negative impact of what we are witnessing.