Nanny Trouble
Nanny Trouble
Sorry, but this is hilarious.
UPDATE: This story quotes Kerik saying, "I uncovered information that now leads me to question the immigration status of a person who had been in my employ as a housekeeper and nanny. It has also been brought to my attention that for a period of time during such employment required tax payments and related filings had not been made." Mr. law and order, who looks like Kojak (and bears a bit of a resemblance to a former teacher of mine), may have, er, broken the law. By employing an undocumented alien. Not that such people should be profiled. Or anything like that. According to the President. Who wants to grant amnesty to a lot of illegals but not, er, terrorists. Or something. Byrd also reminds us that Clinton ran into this problem with several possible Attorneys General. It's just a part of the modern world: working women--working parents--have trouble figuring out what to do with their kids. As I recall Zoe Baird worked for a big company that had a big day care at her office building--yet she preferred having her illegal nanny at home. Couples we have known seem to find that if you can possibly afford it, there's nothing nicer than having a nanny. Let's face it, it's a bit of a return to the old days of having servants. And if the servant is an illegal, or just struggling to get started and send money home, you can do things that look remarkably like: exploitation! Even if you're a progressive liberal! I'm thinking of David Cecil's overview of "the Whig aristocracy" at the beginning of his life of Melbourne. These people generally acted like they wanted to make something out of their lives--preferably with some display or ostentation, and a significant slice of socializing; indeed they valued performing in society with wit or charm, or literary or other accomplishment. They were patrons of the arts, but not (in any Victorian sense) moral exemplars. They were proud of their exciting romantic affairs. They probably weren't as cynical as the French. Scholarship per se wasn't greatly valued--Melbourne might have been happy as a philosophy professor in Scotland, but that simply wasn't in the cards for him. Being so busy with all this, they treated their kids with what can only be called a combination of neglect and abuse, with occasional bursts of lavish spending, like tuition at an expensive school, thrown in--the last being one more thing to show off to one's friends. Out of all this picture, the part that today's yuppies or bobos are most serious about is the "kids" part. UPDATE: The Kerik case itself gets funnier and funnier. Apparently to overcome the perception that they must be miserably incompetent to have approved Kerik, and let the President go on TV to praise and recommend him, the Bushies are kind of forced to say they knew of other...allegations about Kerik, and were determined to tough it out until the really troubling nanny issue emerged. Josh Marshall: [blockquote]They seem to be stipulating to their knowing about and being untroubled by a) Kerik's long-standing ties to an allegedly mobbed-up Jersey construction company (see yesterday's piece in the Daily News and tomorrow's in the Times), sub-a) that Kerik received numerous unreported cash gifts from Lawrence Ray, an executive at said Jersey construction company (Ray was later indicted along with Edward Garafola, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano's brother-in-law, and Daniel Persico, nephew of Colombo Family Godfather Carmine "The Snake" Persico and others on unrelated federal charges tied to what the Daily News called a "$40 million, mob-run, pump-and-dump stock swindle." b) that Riker's Island prison became a hotbed of political corruption and cronyism on his watch, c) that he is accused by nine employees of the hospital he worked at providing security in Saudi Arabia of using his policing powers to pursue the personal agenda of his immediate boss, d) that a warrant for his arrest (albeit in a civil case) was issued in New Jersey as recently as six years ago, e) that as recently as last week he was forced to testify in a civil suit in a case covering the period in which he was New York City correction commissioner, in which the plaintiff, "former deputy warden Eric DeRavin III contends Kerik kept him from getting promoted because he had reprimanded the woman [Kerik was allegedly having an affair with], Correction Officer Jeanette Pinero," or f) his rapid and unexplained departure from Baghdad.[/blockquote] Kevin Drum says the nanny problem has become so respectable, it can serve as a kind of veil over other...allegations. |
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