In a week in which separate scandals rocked two very different government agencies, we mourned the loss of a television icon.
Dick Clark dies at 82
Dick Clark, a ubiquitous face on television, died of a heart attack on Wednesday. He was famous for several roles, particularly his annual special ushering in the new year. He produced and hosted "American Bandstand," a television show in the '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s that introduced audiences to rock 'n' roll and dance moves.
What's your favorite memory of Dick Clark?
GSA scandal widens
As Congress lines up to criticize the General Services Administration for its lavish conference spending in Las Vegas, the Washington Post reports that legislation has been drafted to gut government spending on conferences.
The Baltimore Sun thought the GSA affair shouldn't have happened, but private companies are equally wasteful:
It does make a great showpiece for congressmen's wrath, but wait a second, don't the congressmen go on the same kind of junkets paid for by lobbyists?
How should we respond to such wasteful spending?
More firings at Secret Service
The Associated Press reported Friday that three more members of the Secret Service will lose their jobs over the Cartegena prostitution scandal.
Meanwhile, former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions are trying to connect the twin scandals to President Obama.
Michael Crowley, in Time Magazine, says the outrage over the Secret Service helps to mask deeper problems the GSA incident might reveal.
The Secret Service scandal may be a moral outrage, and perhaps suggests that presidential security needs a review. But, really, there’s not much else to say about it. The GSA scandal, on the other hand, strikes right at the heart of a real debate: Is the federal government bloated and filled with waste? Would the spending cuts Republicans demand really be as painful as Democrats say, or do we have a lot of room to tighten the belt just by trimming the old troika of waste, fraud and abuse? For a lot of Americans, no doubt, the GSA story suggests we do.
Which has bigger implications for the federal government? Which is likely to affect voters in November?
S. C.
3:00 pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012
All of the GSA Management employees involved in the spending scandal should be fired immediately. They obviously have horrible judgement. Private businesses can spend like that if they want to, but these people were spending OUR money and that's outrageous!
Andre L. Taylor
8:00 am on Sunday, April 22, 2012
I'm not old enough to remember American Bandstand but I am old enough to know Dick Clark is synonymous with New Years Eve. Since I was a child, I always looked forward to seeing Dick Clark count down the dropping of the ball to ring a new year. As my family and I prepared to celebrate another year in a Philadelphia hotel December 31, I was eager to turn on the television to see what became a ritual of mine every year. Within minutes of hearing his slurred speech I saddened to the point of turning the television off. Instead, I walked outside the hotel to take my spot alone to watch the fireworks to let me know 2012 had arrived. Death is something I don't deal with well and all I know is my ritual of a New Years Eve celebration has changed forever. I am glad he is in no more pain and hopeful he is in a better place. Dick Clark will be missed by all and it is up to those of us who waited all year for one day to see that smile and hear that countdown to pass that those memories onto future generations.
Sean R. Sedam
4:25 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
It's sad that we lost Dick Clark and Don Cornelius in the same (less than) three months. I'm pretty sure that "Bandstand" and "Soul Train" both ran on TV in DC late Saturday mornings (after cartoons). I'd tune in to "Bandstand" to see the acts I saw in videos on MTV perform "live." I'd tune in to "Soul Train" to see "The Soul Train Line" (not that I could do any of the dances).
My mom used to tell of growing up going to Catholic school in Philly when Dick Clark was hosting "Bandstand" there. All the "bad girls" would skip out of school to try to get a spot dancing on the show, she said. I used to tease my mom (who apparently was not one to cut class for Dick Clark) that it was fine that she was one of the "good girls," but the girls on the show actually were the "cool girls."