I am SO DISAPPOINTED ...

... in Saera Khan right now. What is going on in her head?? That would actually apply to politicians generally - how do their minds work that they think they can get away with things like this? Especially in Norway - this is such a tiny place, everything is so transparent, you cannot get away with anything if you're a public person ... like an MP, for pete's sake. It's happened again and again. Something strange is discovered, something seems a little off. Someone looks into it, a newspaper prints an article. The person in question denies and explains. Then some new info comes out - they back down on previous statements, we get more denials and explanations. Repeat as necessary until subject is totally backed into a corner and forced to admit the truth. It boggles the mind. It ALWAYS happens like that and the tactic NEVER works.

I'm not sure if I think Khan should withdraw from her position. Certainly she should not accept her renomination for next year's election (she is 6th on the list, I think). Sure, we're all human, we all make mistakes. But some mistakes you are just not allowed to make as a politician. She has been making these ridiculous phone calls - to clairvoyants, give me a fucking break! - and charging it to Parliament - that means she has been stealing taxpayers' money. What else can it be called? And then - as if that wasn't bad enough, but it was forgivable, but then she lies about it. OK, maybe this boyfriend of hers does exist, and that accounts for part of her outrageous phone bills, but 793 phone calls to various so-called psychics seem to be an undisputed fact. 793 ... !! :-o So if there is a boyfriend, and why shouldn't there be, that seems irrelevant to me now, to be honest. She lied to Parliament, she lied to the press. That shows a lack of judgment on her part that seriously makes me question her suitability for her position.

Not to mention that becoming 'addicted' to telemarketing scams like these in itself doesn't show the best kind of judgment ... and believing in clairvoyants is something I would rather have our MPs be a little too clever for.

But actually, what really gets to me is this: When the whole Ramin-Osmundsen affair blew up, my feelings were that I was disappointed in Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen and I felt that this was a setback for immigrants in Norway as a group. I felt that I so hadn't wanted it to happen this way. I felt that it was a shame that it was MRO who was the first immigrant to make it all the way to government. I thought - and I said to people - that ideally, it should have been Saera Khan who should have been that first immigrant cabinet minister, and if it had been, we would not have seen the kind of scandal that ruined so much for MRO.

Well ... that shows you how much I know.

I am so disappointed. :-(


Update, 4:15pm: She's stepping down.