Syzygeist

Let's call Cox a coward as well as incompetent

I am late reacting so I will keep it brief. Given the magnitude and duration of the Madoff fraud, the SEC has to be culpable of gross misfeasance. They had plenty of reason to investigate and they didn't. If this were China, Christopher Cox would be executed or sent to a very unpleasant faraway jail for a very long time. If this were Japan, he would have resigned and, if a man of honor, might have eviscerated himself to set things right. But this is the United States at the end of a long bull run, so Cox just goes on television to announce that he is "terribly disappointed." Hey thanks, Chris, that should be fine.

See NY Times on Cox/Madoff

High Time for Zimbabwe

It's high time that George W is finally calling on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to resign, as inflation there hits a reported 231 million percent (really?) and cholera takes hold with 589 reported cases. (Please look up the history of cholera to confirm this is the "Black Death" of yore.) Bush has always been lame, and never lamer than now, duck-wise, but he is late to this party if he ever intended to express moral and political outrage in a timely manner. Could courage be a factor? It can't be a coincidence that he does it now in the shadow of a black President-elect. Obama gives the U.S. added moral legitimacy in attacking black politicians for racism and destructive social policies, but the US as a post-slavery state has always been a bit compromised here. (The last time I checked the U.S. could still boast the highest per capita prison rate, of which non-whites are disproportionately in residence. Please check those numbers the next time you're googling, and they may make you question the efficacy of current drug laws.) Anyway, I applaud Bush's move - better late than never. And I fully expect Obama to go where no U.S. President has effectively gone before in helping Africa to modernize, peacefully, for the sake of its own peoples.

See NY Times on Cholera

Also BBC News on Cholera and political unrest