As I recall from the good old days of the Cold War, when a Chinese official was caught with his hand in the public till, it was cut off and then he was executed----either or both. It was just one more sign of how barbaric our avowed enemy was.

I suggest that a cursory reading of almost any newspaper these days would offer proof that such a policy might be of value in this land of the free. As an example, this morning in the Washington Post there is an article about American farmers and how they are stealing from the government when it comes to disaster relief. The general belief among these hearty mostly Christian citizens is that if the government is offering, they would be foolish not to take it. It does not seem to bother any of them that they have to lie
to receive their ill-gotten gains.

Republicans used to make such a big deal out of welfare cheats---and no doubt there were many(If the government offers....), but these same Republicans had a difficult time with Republican thieves. Their usual response was to point out that Democrats did the same thing.


WELL, YES THEY DO. DOES THIS MAKE THE REPUBLICANS LESS GUILTY?

(get ready for this) What it means is there might be a fatal flaw in the American form of government. We have a system that is ready-made for thievery by the party in power. When the same party controls both the Congress and the Executive branch, where is the oversight? There is none. An action must be so flagrant that it cannot be swept under the carpet.

Let's face it. The Republican leadership has known about Foley for years, but because they are in power nothing was done about it. By the same token, the Republican congress spent eighty billion dollars(or some such stupid figure) investigating Bill and Hillary Clinton in Whitewagter and found nothing.
Yet this congress cannot get to the bottoim of who lied about what in order to get the Iraq War started.

Being a life-long Democrat there is a part of my psyche that looks forward to payback when(if) the Democrats regain control of the congress. God knows, the Republicans certainly deserve it. But a more rational element wishes that we could bring to an end the rancor and ugliness than entered the American political system with the advent of Newt Gingrich.

The problem is that the anger goes back to the time of the downfall of the Nationalist Government of China...when the Republicans accused the Democrats of LOSING CHINA. The Republicans were so stupid. They seemed to believe that China belonged to us. But the American people were even more stupid because many of them bought into the republican's story.

Now, over fifty years of rancor must be overcome. I am not one to forgive easily. I can only hope there are others with more rational heads among the leading Democrats. Of course, if the Democrats do regain control, Republicans will be all for burying the hatchet...as usual, a day late and a dollar short.