Everyday Erinyes

I only have one small article this week which seems to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with it, and you and the Furies may not even agree with me on it. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

I'm sure everyone can remember SOMETHING that Maine Governor Paul Lepage has said or done at one time or another which was bat-guano crazy, and hurtful with it.  Most recently he has been in the news for complaining about drug dealers coming up to Maine and impregnating white women (Huh?), and stating he wanted the authority to behead said drug dealers publicly.  But that's just recently.

Last Tuesday, or rather, Tuesday week, May 3rd, the Governor went to the Androscoggin Humane Society to check out the dogs there – apparently he and his family had a dog who had recently passed away, Baxter.  They saw a Jack Russell, decided on the spot to adopt him, named him Veto and posted on Facebook.

However – this puppy had been advertised on the Humane Society website as becoming available on WEDNESDAY morning, on a first come, first served basis.  And there was another Mainer who wanted him, who had arranged to take off work so she could be there early  and be first in line.

Heath Arsenault, a victim of sexual assault, told local news outlet NECN she had been hoping to adopt the animal herself as an emotional support dog. She said she was heartbroken when she learned that the shelter had bent the rules to allow the governor to adopt him before he became available to the public.

"I just saw the picture and I broke down," Arsenault said. "He was just the right size for my apartment and he's just really sweet." ….

"It wasn't about, 'Oh, I wanted that dog and somebody else adopted it," Arsenault, added. "It just felt like my happiness was taken away from me. Bettering my relationships—that was taken away from me."

"No one should be given special privileges, even if they are the governor," she told the Portland Press Herald.

The shelter has since admitted to breaking its own rules by giving LePage a chance to adopt the dog a day earlier than the public.

It remains to be seen if Veto will soon be moving to Washington, DC, as LePage is reportedly gunning for a position in the Trump administration.

I said most of what I am going to say now in my comment on the site, but I doubt if I can say it much better, so from here I am quoting myself (I promise not to sue), with just a few small edits, mostly for context.

There are a number of old sayings along the lines of "adding insult to injury," "the straw that broke the camel's back," "the frosting on the cake," "the cherry on the sundae," which express how human it is, after suffering, or even just seeing, large or at least significant injuries without losing one's temper, when a small one comes along from the same source, to "blow one's top" – another old saying.  Cliches, but they become cliches because they speak to us.  This is how I feel about this incident. 

He makes remarks about drug dealers coming into "his" state and impregnating white women.  He says he wants to be able to cut off drug dealers' heads in public.  He decides to veto a bunch of bills he doesn't like, so he ignores them, in which he displayes his ignorance of Maine's constitution – they all become law.  So he decides he just won't enforce them.  A private school hires someone he personally doesn't like, so he directs them to fire the guy or lose state funding.  And so on and so on.  He has already abundantly proved he has no respect for constitution, no respect for law, no respect for rules, no respect for citizens.  Over major issues.

Now comes along this sweet little dog – and Jack Russells are sweet, if not always 100% predictable.  (And if you deduce from that that I hope Veto bites his ass, you would be right.)  No, he didn't know someone else wanted the dog.  But he did know he was there a day early, and therefore was breaking a rule.  Yes, the shelter is also at fault, whether he threatened and bullied the staff, or whether they were only too happy to kiss the boots of their Governor, or anything in between.  I admit this is a minor issue.  I admit I am being petty.  But for me, this is the frosting on the cake, because it FROSTS me.

And I think that is what many people who have commented on the article are feeling, and why so many are excoriating him (and of course many are also defending him, and are entitled to their opinion).

Plus, of course, I can see from other comments that I am not the only one who fears for the fate of that sweet little dog in that household.

Dear Furies, if you can see your way to looking into this there are many people who would or should be grateful – including the entire state of Maine.  It may be the punishment would not fit the crime.  But there are other unpunished crimes.  And God help the nation if he should get into Donald Trump's cabinet!  (OK, God help the nation if Donald Trump gets a cabinet, period.)

Off this topic, a quick update on last week's election fraud story – about seven more funny-looking signatures have been found, and all of the voters in question have been interviewed, and deny signing anything for Keyser, but state they did sign for the other guy.  Including the first one I showed last week.  Keyser has reportedly refused to say anything except "I am on the ballot," except that he did tell one reporter "I have a really, really big dog.  Bigger than you."  (Clearly NOT a Jack Russell.)  Sweet guy.

The Furies and I will be back.