By Ralph Schwartz
No, I’m not referring to Dan Pike.
But Pike and former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, whom the link below is about, share what appears to be a normal urge among outgoing public officials — let me tell you what I really think.
I didn’t cover Pike when he was mayor, but I’ve interviewed him a handful of times since then. He doesn’t come across as bashful about expressing how he really thinks and feels. But this is the first chance the former mayor, who was criticized over his handling of the Port of Bellingham and waterfront redevelopment, has enough information to weigh in on the job Mayor Kelli Linville and the port are doing with redevelopment efforts.
I get into all that in today’s paper. As for Geithner, Politico is reporting that he is preparing to write a book on a topic he was also much maligned for — the Troubled Asset Relief Program, b.k.a. the bank bailout, that he claims saved the United States from a second Great Depression. His critics (which happen to be as far right as the tea party and as far left as the Occupy movement) say all it did was feather the nests of the same people who caused the financial collapse in the first place.
The Politico report says:
Until now, Geithner has not been able to tell his unvarnished version of the story. In on-the-record interviews while in office, he was often restrained in defending the administration’s crisis response despite what seemed like a clear desire to rip into his critics.
I would read that book. It’s so refreshing to hear a public official speak candidly. That’s why Pike is front-page news, in my opinion (although I don’t make story-placement decisions, for the record).
What does one call an anonymous commenter impersonating another anonymous commenter in an attempt to make the impersonated anonymous commenter appear as a dolt, when in fact it is quite the opposite?
And for what purpose does it serve??
I wanna hear who really opened The Fed Cash Discount window to investment banks,
thereby retroactively altering their charter literally overnight.
Mr. Geithner ran The Fed and he knows what the rules are,
so who put him up to it?
Maybe his tell-all blast will reveal some answers he just couldn’t share with us while he was on duty.
But The Honorable Mr. Pike actually blasted nobody,
subverted no corporate morality
nor shook the place with opinions he hasn’t had all along.
That he speaketh now seems appropriate given the respectful elapse of healing time
since the Linville 150-vote landslide.
So Ralph, I am down with discarding my snark at Soiled Greenies, but since when does someone get to call someone a name like Soiled did above without having it trashed too?
maybe you missed it? But that is just apathetic comment not worthy of space and it should lose several comments from the allotment. just sayin’
Plus the above soiled comment was the sole impetus for my snark you tossed, so…..whatever, over and out from the land of deep divin’, shorts, sandals, humpback whales, palm trees waving in the breeze and Kona chips….
It’s not Soylent Green – it’s somebody impersonating him.
Maybe I misunderstood, but I read that you had requested me to trash your comments. And maybe I did miss a wayward comment from someone else, but going over all of them, at first blush none of the others put up any red flags for me. … (Having gone back to comments) Oh – the Dan Pike comment? Dan is a public figure. The First Amendment and court cases give much more freedom to cast public figures in a negative light. Would anyone reasonably believe Dan Pike is a douche bag, weighing his years of public service against one person’s offhand comment? Private individuals, who are unknown to the audience and are much more vulnerable to slander, are afforded more protection.
Will the real Soylent Green, please stand up? (I think you have to be well before the millennial generation to get that reference.) @Camille, if the real Soylent Green is still out there somewhere, he/she can bring forward a complaint about their name being borrowed. I haven’t seen that name in quite a while, so I’m not sure if they’re still active.
If I was a world traveler with a Hankering for access to local politics,
I don’t think I’d hesitate to spend some of my scuba tank money
subscribing to the digital Herald thereby eliminating any restrictions on my hobby.
Ralph, you’re right I did say trash it, and I meant Soiled’s comment as well, since I found the douchebag comment to be offensive and downright sexist as well…using a female health function as a derogatory reference? I mean really….and while I would call miscreants like Bush or Romney derogatory phrases like scumbags, I would never use a phrase that also carried with it a sexist undertone. To me it would be like some who have referred to Obama making a reference to a monkey which is a throwback to old racist references from the 40′s and 50′s. And while it took me some time, as I am fast becoming a relic from a bygone era and addressed my own sexism back in the day(plus I am from that privileged class of the often thoughtless gender) it rankles. Just me.
That said, I appreciate your responding and will drop it.
@rubie. Well as you and I have discussed in the past, it is more like an addiction I keep trying to quit, rather than a hobby.
I think Ben Franklin might have said that it’s best to host your addictions with grace
rather than usher them rudely out the door.
@rubie…..well you know me and why I’m sometimes ushered out the door , so why pay those doing the ushering for anything….
Second, the main store in Koror is a Ben Franklin and a trinket in the store, intended for whom I have no idea, (since Palau is a decidedly dark skinned, indigenous, racially mixed culture,) was pseudo Indiana license plates with the Letters PALAU. Now they do like Americans so maybe anything American seems exotic, but I found the humor in it as many Indianans I have known are pretty white bread. Or maybe it was the Indian in the name which seemed indigenous culture friendly. But then again, the most widely viewed American news organization throughout the South Pacific is Fox News and many have what I view as a humorously to downright sadly mistaken view of American news and politics. People were amazed to hear my take on Faux News and it’s illegitimacy as a source, and CNN International out of Hong Kong as well as it is at the least middle right. Funny things one learns when one gets outside of fortress America.
@rubie…one last bit on the international beat that you might enjoy checking out is the stories about America’s release of several Chinese Guantanamo detainees to Palau because of Palau’s close ties to America and Taiwan, and the 200 mill we’re giving to Palau to take these highly educated men and give them minimum wage jobs and how they feel they have just become pawn shuttle from one jail for another of sorts. Sat next to a journalist on the plane back to Hawaii who was there doing a documentary on it. very interesting story. Check it out online. And now adieu as my 15 must be nearly up.
Take anything posted here in the BH blogs under my screen name with a grain of salt. I have an admirer (stalker) who has tried and failed to hack my account used for commenting on stories and is now posting here in the blog section under my user name because they don’t need a password to do so. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but this action on the part of a Con is in actuality the highest form of desperation.
P.S. – Although I don’t love everything he stands for, I respect Dan Pike for speaking his mind and restarting a public discussion on a very important topic in the public’s interest.
I have sent the false Soylent Green an email, warning him/her not to do it again. I also deleted the fake posts. I’ll continue to keep a close eye on things.
Ralph,
Soylent Green is People!
I don’t often see Soylent Green post comments here, but obviously he(/her… ) is now aware of the transgression against his/her good pseudonym.
I appreciate your efforts to filter out the phony adolescent comments of a 12-year.