The Vegetable Law (or, when it works to lie to your kid)

"They're yukky!" I looked at my second born, my son, as he sat there, wiggling, lip curled and looking askance. Maybe if he didn't look at them, they would disappear. "I know you think that, but they are good for you. You need to eat a couple." He didn't answer, but returned his attention to his plate, pushing his fork around with disinterest. Suddenly, he brightened. "I don't really have to eat them. It's not the law." I held back a smile. "Well, actually, it is a law. Kids under ten must eat at least 1 bite of vegetables. It's California state law." I nibbled my nail while I waited to hear his answer. He regarded his plate, then me. "Even peas?" he asked. "Yes son, even peas." I almost felt badly at the untruth I was spreading, but hey, a kid has to eat his peas! He sighed heavily, then picked up his fork. "If I was President I wouldn't have to eat these," he said. "I am pretty sure even the President has to eat his peas, too. I think it's the law." "Well, the President breaks the law, right? He listened to other peoples' phone calls without asking." Oh oh I thought to myself, now you've done it. The kid clearly hears talk radio even when you think he doesn't. I really don't want to discuss this with him! What would I say? And it got me to thinking, and I thought I would share some excerpts of some articles I have read lately: New article at MSNBC from Newsweek:

According to testimony by Libby—Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff—Bush gave the go-ahead through the vice president for the otherwise secretive and always dutiful Libby to leak the classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to New York Times reporter Judith Miller. The leak set in motion the chain of events that led to the unmasking of Valerie Plame, Wilson’s wife, as an undercover CIA officer who had been working for an energy-related front company while investigating nuclear proliferation. It is a serious crime to reveal the identity of a covert operative, and Bush called for a criminal investigation to “get to the bottom” of the scandal. It turns out he may be the bottom.

The L.A. Times has this to say:

McClellan walked a rhetorical tightrope Friday, refusing to explicitly confirm the testimony revealed in Fitzgerald's court filing but defending the president's actions nonetheless. He drew a distinction between the kinds of disclosures that do not threaten national security and disclosures such as the report last year that Bush had authorized warrantless wiretapping of people with suspected links to terrorist organizations. "Declassifying information and providing it to the public, when it is in the public interest, is one thing," McClellan said. "But leaking classified information that could compromise our national security is something that is very serious." He accused Democrats of failing to grasp the distinction and of "engaging in crass politics."

Again, I sit here, left wondering, what do I tell my children? When I explain to them we all have authorities over us, that's just the way it is, how do I explain that the President believes himself to be above the law? And since the President is such an Everyguy, and every kid can be President, what possible recourse do I have when my son refuses to eat his peas? by the way, I did tell my son there is no such law about peas. But the law for corn still stands.