Politics: As Ye Sow

So shall ye reap. As one Sheldon Adelson is finding out, even as we squeak.

Who, you might ask, is Sheldon Adelson. Well, according to the article linked above, he is a 74-year-old billionaire who was once up there with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the third richest man in the U.S. He was also a dedicated Likudnik hawk who, according to the writer, was very likely to

...capitalize on his ascent to the top of the Republican money elite to try to build opposition in America to any Middle East peace settlement calling for the division of Israel into two states, one Jewish, the other Palestinian.

The two-state solution, as it is popularly termed, has been historically favoured by the majority of people in the affected areas as well as the rest of the world. Apparently, billionaires don't have to respect the will of the people. Apparently.

Because, yaknow, instant karma IS gonna get you. Sooner or later that chair you kicked every time you got mad? It's gonna stub your toe and turn it all purple and maybe even break it. So it is with Mr. Adelson, who has made most of his money in such crime-free enterprises as gambling. Mr. Adelson's holdings in Golden Sands Corp. is what accounts for his phenomenal wealth. And now the company is looking at defaulting on approximately $9 BILLION dollars of debt. Those loans were arranged by such luminaries as Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, three of the stars in the recent bailout scandal.

La Casa de Los Gatos wonders if any of the taxpayer dollars involved in the bailout will go into Mr. Adelson's pockets? One hopes not. On the plus side, our new President is going to have a decisive say on the staffing of the bailout plan. We believe that he will not put up with any shenanigans.

And for those who are upset over our President's Chief-of-Staff pick, Rahm Emanuel? We're not wild about Emanuel either, but we'd like to draw your attention to a few things.

• Emanuel is an enormously talented person.
  
  
• Emanuel has worked in a boutique brokerage and knows a lot about finance at a very high level.
  
  
• Emanuel is a very efficient and skillful organizer.
  
  
• Emanuel is a pit bull.
  
  He does not take shit from anyone. He does not take "No" for an answer. He is not a person to mess with because he probably will break your legs off and beat you senseless with them if you try. He's the only Democrat we know off who had the big brass balls to openly confront Dick Cheney.
  
  
• A President must be above the fray.
  
  It is not statesmanlike for the President to take partisan positions. He is the President of the WHOLE nation, not any particular interest group.
  
  
• A President must be capable of making unpopular decisions without seeming to do so.
  
  Rahm Emanuel is a perfect Chief of Staff for President Obama. He will be the lightning rod to deflect popular wrath over unpopular decisions. He's not a quitter and he's not intimidated by anyone.

In this time of economic crisis, Emanuel will understand what goes on in negotiations and he will give good advice. He's shown himself to be capable of making hard decisions when necessary.

None of this makes us like him any better, but he's not the President. He's being hired to do a job, and we suspect he is going to do a helluva job.

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