Ruminations – North Dakota Wins

– By John Schwarz –

As of Thanksgiving Day there were three people who were unknown to 95% of Americans. It would be nice if that situation still existed. Blagojevich, Madoff and Gettlefinger, now those are names, if I’d stayed up all night, that I’d have been hard-pressed to come up with.

Madoff is the biggest crook of all time. My sister Marlene pointed out that he left quite a few people "bad off". A good observation. They say records are made to be broken, but somebody is going to have to work awfully hard to top Bernie.

Gettlefinger is the president of the United Auto Workers. They, along with the inept executives of the Big Three U.S. automobile manufacturers, have brought us to the present crisis. Gettlefinger was willing to destroy the American automobile companies rather than bring the UAW workers' salaries into line with the salaries being paid by Japanese and German car manufacturers who are producing cars in America. These cars are being made by Americans and are being bought by Americans. The companies are doing well, the workers are happy and the towns where the plants are located are prosperous.

On the other hand, the State of Michigan is reeling. Years ago it was the headquarters of the largest and most important industry in the world. It's a beautiful state. The University of Michigan is one of the finest universities in America. The governor, who is not the brightest bulb, has been raising taxes as the state is sliding into Lake Michigan. General Motors is trading at where it sold in 1940. The mayor of Detroit is in jail. All this and the Detroit Lions of the NFL went 0-16, which pretty much sums up what's going on in Michigan.

As you know, Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois, tried to sell our President-elect’s Senate seat to the highest bidder. He also faces 34 other charges. Americans were understandably shocked by the corruption, venality and coarseness of Blagojevich. Most of us didn't realize that of the last five governors of Illinois all but one has either been in or is still in jail, and soon another will there to join the pack.
Grudgingly, New Yorkers have had to acknowledge that New Jersey is not the state with the greatest number of sleazy politicians. Illinois took over the title, but that only lasted for a few days! A recent study showed that neither New Jersey nor Illinois was the most corrupt state in the Union. Incredibly, that distinction belongs to North Dakota.

North Dakota! What’s next?
In a column a few years back I wrote that I wasn't at all sure that there was a North Dakota. Not only have I never been to the state, I've never known anybody who has nor have I ever met anybody from North Dakota or, for that matter, ever seen a North Dakota license plate. I guess the few people who do live there are either crooks, related to crooks or, at the very least, are acquainted with crooks.
It’s a sad state, actually states, of affairs.