"STARZ G.O. P.OWER"
A boy was sent out of the village with the sheep and a horn.
He was told that if he saw a wolf, he must blow the horn and the villagers would come to drive it off.
The boy got bored after a while, blew the horn and watched the villagers come running. They scolded him and went back to the village, but he did it again and again.
Then one time a wolf really did come, but when he blew the horn, the villagers didn't...
For the past six years we have been hearing boyz blowing their horns and each time there was no wolf.
In the beginning there was the Whitewater horn, then Travelgate, Fostergate, Filegate, Chinagate and the latest, Goldberg/Tripp-tapesgate.
And as President Clinton's job rating stands at around 70%, they wonder why we have stopped reacting to their cries of "wolf."
Remember all of the toots from Al D'Amato? Nearly everyday, he said he saw a smoking-gun-wolf but it never materialized.
A three judge panel removed Bob Fisk as the special prosecutor for Whitewatergate and appointed a partisan crony, Kenneth Starr, who revisited everything that Fisk had signed off on. He blew horn after horn of staff-leaks, trumpeting that there were wolves everywhere. There were no wolves, but he did scare up a chipmunk or two for some $30 Mil.
In Arkansas his army of investigators established their own cottage industry. Arkansans first heard of Starr as one of Paula Corbin Jones's early band of lawyers.
Since last summer, they have watched his investigators trading information with P.C.J.'s, as both groups strip-mined the state looking for women to come forth with "dirt on Bill." Large trucks were parked in cities like Little Rock. Their sides blazoned with solicitations to women.
Few in Arkansas, and around the country, can forget how badly he used witnesses such as Steven Smith and Sarah Hopkins; and especially, Susan McDougal, because she would not lie to the grand jury.
Now he dickers with Monica's lawyers to make a deal. She must testify as Starr directs or else no deal. As with Susan and the others, the truth is immaterial to him. He demands from Monica what he wants to hear.
He has lost whatever objectivity he might have had and totally follows orders which, like Salome's, are: "Bring me the head of Bill-the-Clinton on a platter."
Prominent jurists are beginning to speak out about his "abuses of power" and "overzealousness" because he held Monica in a hotel room WITHOUT AN ATTORNEY for eight hours.
These jurists are appalled at his attempts to wire Monica and send her into the White House to spy, as well as his use of the FBI to wire Linda Tripp in conversations with Monica. He did this before he obtained permission to extend his investigation into this area.
Partisan connections exist everywhere. Jones's lawyer was Tripp's lawyer. Goldberg, a rabid critic of Clinton and trafficker in conservative books, urged Tripp to tape Monica's phone conversations. An anonymous caller alerted lawyers for PCJ about Tripp and Lewinsky, and the two women were called to give depositions in that case.
Every day there is a new revelation (wolf!) from "an impeccable Starr-source." It is disseminated, quoted widely and soon debunked.
Scratch a Starr and find another puppet-controlling-wire leading to a Helms or a Faircloth, for example. They, like Starr, support big tobacco interests.
Our vote for the worst friend of the century is Linda Tripp but we can spare some pity for Monica. We hear that she admits to lying a lot and her attorney has supported this. Is she much maligned or a flake trolling for sexual trophies? We don't know and the media leaks only contribute to our confusion.
Is Monica a product of our Barbie-doll culture that conditions girls and women to find their significance only from serving men? How sad that she, living with all of the advantages of wealth, education and an emancipated period for women, will always be remembered for winning "her presidential kneepads."
On the other hand, the courage and decency of Susan McDougal is something all of us should and must emulate.
HELP HER, PLEASE!
Demand that your representatives (or Human Rights Commission) support Rep. John Conyers (D - Mich.) in his attempt to get Starr removed on charges of prosecutoral misconduct. This includes leaking grand jury testimony, serious breaches of ethics, as well as pressuring witnesses to lie.
Susan already has been incarcerated longer than any other person on a civil contempt charge and needs access to medical services that Starr denies her.
We scanned a vast array of magazines on display in a store this morning.
Most had women on the covers and all of the women pictured had some of their breasts bared. There were only a few magazine covers of men. They were all fully clothed.
The horns keep blowing and we wonder, "Is there a wolf this time or just one in sheep's clothing blowing the horn?
. . . And the leaks go on.
1998-005
Copyright 1998 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@connriver.net.
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