[Grovenet] A heckuva job! ! ! ! ! !

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

I'm still convinced we did it to ourselves when President Nixon resigned. 
 
We collectively allowed President Ford to say, effectively, "No matter what
he may have done, let's put this behind us and get on to more important
things..." 
 
In other words, corruption, greed and dishonesty is to be expected in
government. 
 
Who, in their right mind, can wonder for an instant why many - probably most
- people today think government cannot be trusted? 
 
We Americans sowed the wind, back in 1974, and today we reap the whirlwind.
Our efforts yield little value. And what value there is foreigners take.
Hosea 8:7 might have more truth to it than we'd like. 
 
That's why I hope we do not walk away from GW Bush and his staff, no matter
how much we might like to put that "national nightmare" behind us once they
have been expelled from the executive offices. If we do we'll sow the wind
once again. 
 
Getting honest government that we can trust is simple. All we have to do is
demand it. The problem is that's not easy. We have to be involved, pay
attention, and put our priorities on honesty and accountability instead of
convenience. It's easier to ignore dishonesty and hope that whatever it does
in it's self-effacing greed somehow works in our favor.  
 
We have, for these last 7 years, lived with the results of that sort of
thinking. 
 
Ron D'Eau Claire 

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Bob Browning
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 10:14 AM
To: Grovenet
Subject: [Grovenet] A heckuva job! ! ! ! ! !


Good ole "Wolfie", he's doin' a heckuva job!!!

But, seriously, do these Rs have even any sense of the fact of what the word
"ethics" means?? All of Bush's buddies seem so ethically challenged as to
almost deserve the sobriquet of "evil". Maybe they are the true "Axis of
Evil" that Bush talked about ? ! ? !

bob "how many more??" browning

***********************************



World Bank Pledges `Expeditious' Ruling on Wolfowitz 


James G. Neuger and Christopher Swann   2 hours, 6 minutes ago 

April 13 (Bloomberg) -- World Bank directors pledged a speedy decision on
President Paul Wolfowitz's fate after finding that Wolfowitz personally
dictated the terms of a promotion and pay raise for a woman with whom he had
an intimate relationship.

``The Ethics Committee, including its chairman, had not been involved in the
discussions with the concerned staff member,'' the bank's executive
directors said in a statement in Washington early today. The directors
``will move expeditiously to reach a conclusion on possible actions to
take.''

Wolfowitz yesterday apologized for his role in promoting and arranging a
salary increase for the staffer, Shaha Riza, and said he would accept
whatever ``remedies'' are proposed by the international lender's board.

Calls of ``resign, resign'' resounded through the World Bank's atrium
yesterday when Wolfowitz, 63, addressed employee representatives. Staff
Association head Alison Cave said it was the first time the group had called
for a bank president to go.

Wolfowitz sent a memo to the bank's personnel manager ``directing him to
reach an agreement with the staff member and specifying in detail the terms
and conditions,'' the directors' statement said.

Wolfowitz, an aide to then U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the
runup to the Iraq war, was named to the World Bank post by President George
W. Bush in 2005.

White House Support

Bush retains confidence in the World Bank president, White House spokeswoman
Dana Perino told reporters at a briefing today.

``Yes, the president has confidence in Paul Wolfowitz and his work at the
World Bank,'' Perino said. She said Wolfowitz has worked ``to lift people
out of poverty around the world.''

The probe of Riza's promotion is overshadowing the semi- annual meeting of
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Wolfowitz's press
conference opening the meeting was dominated by the issue yesterday.

Also meeting in Washington are the finance ministers and central bankers of
the Group of Seven industrialized nations, the bank's biggest shareholders.
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown declined to comment on
Wolfowitz today.

Riza's promotion came with a pay increase that was more than double the
amount allowed by staff rules, according the Staff Association. She later
received an annual increase of 7.5 percent, also larger than rules allow.

Riza, 52, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

``I made a mistake, for which I am sorry,'' Wolfowitz said yesterday. He
acknowledged the need to reorganize his personal office, where aides have
been criticized for a lack of expertise in development economics and for
ties to the Republican Party.

`Relevant Implications'

World Bank directors ``will focus on all relevant governance implications''
when addressing the case, today's statement said.

Wolfowitz's tenure was already marked by discord. He raised hackles among
staff members over plans to beef up the bank's presence in Baghdad, and his
drive to fight corruption among the bank's borrowers prompted concern that
aid intended to help the poor might be halted.

The World Bank was founded in 1944 to provide financing for the
reconstruction of Europe after World War II, and it has since changed its
mission to focus on fighting poverty. It lends about $23 billion a year. 

The bank's president is nominated by the White House for a five-year term
and must be a U.S. citizen. The IMF's managing director, currently former
Spanish Finance Minister Rodrigo de Rato, has always been a European. 

To contact the reporters on this story: James G. Neuger in Brussels at
jneuger at bloomberg.net ; Christopher Swann in Washington at
cswann1 at bloomberg.net