Archive for February 13th, 2015

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#18 in a series)

Friday, February 13th, 2015

Gosh, I love writing these.

The recently re-elected governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber, has resigned.

I started a post yesterday about the Kitzhaber scandal, but I was having trouble finding a way into it. Ace posted a good summary: as I understand it, much of the scandal involves Kitzhaber’s fiance, who is accused of influence peddling, not reporting income, ethics violations, and getting people fired who failed to respect her authority.

More coverage here.

Edited to add: this link was broken at the time of the original post, but the Oregonian‘s timeline of the scandal is working now.

10/9/2014 Hayes apologizes and admits to making a “serious mistake by committing an illegal act” when she married an 18-year-old Ethiopian national to help him secure residency in the United States. She appears at a news conference without Kitzhaber, saying she takes responsibility for the 1997 sham marriage.

Also, quote of the day:

There has been no word as to whether Kitzhaber required emergency surgery to remove his face from his palm after his assistant informed him that she had EMAILED orders to delete his EMAILS to EMAIL accounts that were subject to open records requests.

Obit watch: February 13, 2015.

Friday, February 13th, 2015

David Carr, prominent NYT journalist, passed away last night.

Carr also wrote the critically acclaimed memoir, The Night of the Gun, about his struggle with drug addiction.

I now inhabit a life I don’t deserve, but we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn’t end any time soon.

Edited to add: nice tribute from Amy Alkon.

Edited to add 2: A/V Club.