I love the quiet that snow brings. The blanket of white ensorcels all, and makes us all go to bed. And I think it's pretty clear how I feel about sleep. The sedative effect of snow is one of the few things that I actually enjoy about this weather. The most recent storm, the first of the season, was hailed as the end of days; residents were urged to stay put and batten down the hatches. My work place was completely empty, save my colleagues of budget/policy nerddom. The lovely Christmas performances that have been filling the hallways of work were all canceled- lending an eerie, Armageddon-esque atmosphere to the entire place.
The storm of the year is a fitting exclamation point at the end of a few weeks of utter bizarreness in the political and financial worlds. In short, it's been a rough month for people with funny names. As America continues its accelerating spiral toward Crazy Town, names have evolved from Simpson, Craig and McGreevey to those that require a phonemic explanation: Gettlefinger (get-lil-finger), Madoff (MAD-off) and Blagojevich (blah-GOY-a-vich). Money and power has done crazy things to these men and, I'm sure, their surrogates.
The first sought to increase partisanship in order to rectify the dwindling reputation of unions in the American workforce. Ultimately, Mr. Get-lil-finger solidify a bailout from a President that is terrified to become the next Harry Truman.
The second, lied and manipulated his friends to build a grand illusion of security, financial prowess and infinite success. Mr. MAD-off, thrown under the regulatory bus by his sons, is ankle-braceletted in his midtown apartment until his inevitable conviction.
The third-perhaps the most shameless of the three- thought that he could auction off a Congressional and Senate seat while under intense federal scrutiny for suspected sketchiness. Blah-GOY-a-vich, in his supreme hubris, is operating as if nothing is wrong and that the clear evidence against him are fabrications of political enemies (Dear Gov, No one cares about you enough. Love, Blogger).
These Three Wise Men of this Christmas season serve as an expose of shameless greed among some of America's most prominent individuals. Every day, more and more news reports stream in, they chronicle escalating job loss and apprehensions about the future. Even as a super majority of Americans are hopeful regarding the new administration and its potential fiscal stimulus- we find ourselves driven to distraction by these men and their childlike avarice. It almost makes me long for vacuous reporting on holiday sales. Or maybe, I'll just watch the snow (there sure is a lot of it).
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