Dear editor,
On the day of the presidential pardon, consisting mostly of traffic offenders, in South Korea, a cow wandered into traffic in Contra Costa County, east of San Francisco, Calif.
The very, very nervous cow was escorted by animal control officers and three firefighters to the Shakespeare Festival grounds in Orinda off Gateway Boulevard, after holding up commuters on Highway 24 for nearly an hour.
California Highway Patrol officers closed westbound traffic shortly after the call came in at 8:52 a.m. Traffic was cleared by 9:49 a.m. according to CHP officer Robert Haven. When asked if it shattered the stereotype of firefighters only helping cats down from trees, Haven said: ``They're Jack of all trades."
Marking his 100th day in office, and in order to boost his ratings in the polls, 2.8 million people, mostly minor offenders, have been pardoned by President Lee Myung-bak.
According to The Korea Times, the blanket pardon came Tuesday as the President's approval rating ``fell to the 20 percent range from nearly 80 percent three months ago, following a series of policy blunders that were highlighted by the hasty decision to resume U.S. beef imports."
Now, assuming that the cow is little more than a calf, and hasn't been already cited for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and also that it can be made to understand that the government expects those receiving pardons to abandon their ``regretful past'' and become solid citizens, why doesn't President Lee appear on Jay Leno's U.S. television show to pardon the dumb bovine?
Richard Thompson
Seoul