Capture and Retreat, Barney's Latest Misadventure, Vote for the Washington Emmy Awards
Weekend Edition April 24, 2009
This article will run through Tuesday April 28, 2009 when a new article will appear. Out of town and out of touch for a few days.
Today's Zinger:
"Now You See Me, Now You Don't, I Come And Go"
Today's article is quite different than any I have published in the past. Maybe because it is the weekend. This article includes a reader contest. Enter the contest. The reader chosen for submitting the best nomination will win a Zinger prize. Ballot is at the bottom of the article.
Do you remember that line from the movie and Broadway play Best Little Whorehouse in Texas? "Now you see me, now you don't, I come and go". The Broadway play starred Dolly Parton and Bert Reynolds. In the movie, the Texas Governor was played by Charles Durning, (Click on the clip above and enjoy Charles Durning, it is worth a look). The Governor is known for routinely capturing the headlines then retreating to no action. Time and again the Governor shows up for the photo op, shows his strength and power in his bold proclamations to appease the citizens, then quietly goes off and does nothing. Welcome Governor Frank.
Representative Frank (D- Massachusetts will have served 30 years in Congress at the completion of his current term) had no problem with bravado during the financial meltdown. Despite more than a decade of Mr. Frank's involvement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a decade of service on the Financial Services Committee (since 1991) and Chairing the committee for the past several years (since 2007), Mr. Frank has accomplished very little and continues to disavow any responsibility for the financial mess that swallowed Fannie and Freddie. He routinely deflects blame to others for the lack of regulation. When asked what he would do differently to mitigate the meltdown, his response was "what would you want me to do"? As Chair of the Committee overseeing the Financial Services in the United States, I think that we might expect a more thoughtful response, like have more competent examiners, eliminate the political payoffs through contributions and help pass legislation brought by other members of Congress, and the President, that saw this coming. Somehow Mr. Frank missed it and has said on numerous occasions running up to the meltdown "there is no problem". Mr. Frank, in the real world we get fired for that, just like the Federal Government fired the Chairman of GM and AIG. Unfortunately for America, you can't get fired because you keep bringing home the bacon to the 4th District in Massachusetts and like lemmings they keep getting in line to cast your vote.
This is typical in Washington where lifetime bureaucrats lead committees and oversee activities where they have no real life experience or formal education. As a result we get policy that is designed by others, and those others are lining the pockets of the politicians that they are "helping" with policy. For Barney Frank, there has never been anything (except a couple of years of teaching while in school) other than politics.
Now, at a time that Americans are looking to the government for action to gain control over the financial institutions and bring stability and confidence back to the markets, Barney Frank talked tough about regulation and prosecution and once again delivered nothing.
With the close relationship between the Washington crowd and Hollywood, you would think that the Actors Guild could develop an award for our elected officials. Since this is yet to be done, Zinger decided to poll the readers and issue awards. Vote for your favorite politician. You can email me for a ballot or complete the ballot below and send your nominations to ZK@ZingerKing.com . Results will be posted in three weeks. All entries must be received by May 15, 2009. Zinger will mail the awards to the Washington winners. The reader that submits the best nomination for any single award, which should include the reason for the nomination, will receive a "Get Zinged @ ZingerKing.com" hat. Remember, your words matter. Judging will be done by a three member panel.
As a side note for the technically inclined (and besides, I want to be able to tell you "I told you so" in a few years), I would like to give Representative Frank credit for one thing. If you are not technically inclined or hate when someone says "I told you so" just move on to the fun competition.
He and his committee moved quickly to eliminate the accounting rule which requires reporting fair market value for assets owned and held by a company (especially financial services which has significant housing assets on the books which are below the lending price) to be represented in current financial statements. Zinger supported the relaxation of mark-to-market, however, current market value serves a useful purpose and should be included in the footnotes of the financial statements. Unfortunately, in the haste to remove the overly burdensome requirement which has contributed to the meltdown of the financial services industry, and to demonstrate to America that he is doing something, Mr. Frank and his Committee missed the point of footnoting which means some time in the future we will hear how it was wrong to eliminate this requirement and it will be blamed for some future financial problems. Footnotes Barney, Footnotes. NOW.
Now for some fun.
The Competition:
Make your nomination for Washington's best politician/actor. Be sure to include a specific reference to a situation, event or series of events when making your nomination. WE will all want to know why you nominated the person. The person nominated must be in office. We are not going to bring up the old or were would we start. So, no Richard Nixon, No Jimmy Carter, and (sorry) no George Bush. For those a little older, no Warren G. Harding or James Buchanan. They must be in office. After all it will be hard to send a "You've Been Zinged @ ZingerKing.com" shirt to Warren G. Harding and I think George Bush has already received enough of them.
You can either cut and paste the categories in an email and send it to ZK@ZingerKing.com or request a ballot at the same email address and we will forward one back to you. Have fun with the ballot.
Category Nominee Situation Deserving of Nomination
Outstanding cast for a comedy
Outstanding cast in a drama
Outstanding stunt coordination
Best choreography of a political crisis
Best mini series
Outstanding commercial
Outstanding host for a reality show
Outstanding lead actor/actress in a drama
Outstanding lead actor/actress in a comedy
Outstanding made for TV movie
Outstanding main title design
Outstanding individual performance in a variety show
Outstanding editing
Outstanding visual effects
Best supporting actor
Best supporting actress
Best overall actor
Best overall actress
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Questions and comments should be sent to ZK@ZingerKing.com
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