It’s been tough to find the time to blog recently, but so much is happening that I’ve been dying to talk about.
Take Spitzer’s Sin, for example. An LA Times editorial argues that the New York Governor – who is a customer of Kristen the sex worker – is actually “…evidence of a nationwide [resurgence] of personal vices that resist all efforts at eradication.” I couldn’t agree more, and the rest of that editorial is just as good, saying that although the Times “…don’t mean to imply support for prostitution, smoking or excessive drinking,” they find it encouraging that people do it anyway, since they follow in “…a long tradition of Americans who have fought the law not out of nobility or high principle but out of their belief in the freedom of consenting adults to participate in shameful, unpopular or harmful activities.” [My emphasis] That is the message we should be sending to the US presidential candidates. Speaking of which… what are The Three up to this week?
Obama wins Mississippi. (No shit.)
Larry David, who is my hero, writes that he’s scared of Hillary. He says, “There have been times in this campaign when she seemed so unhinged that I worried she’d actually kill herself if she lost,” and – after watching her take the 3am call – says, “Suddenly, I realized the last thing this country needs is that woman anywhere near a phone. I don’t care if it’s 3am or 10pm or any other time. I don’t want her talking to Putin, I don’t want her talking to Kim Jong Il, I don’t want her talking to my nephew.”
And Juan Cole thinks McCain is just Bush by another name, a guy who “…sounds a lot like the guy who ran in 2000 and 2004.” I’m afraid I must agree, although that doesn’t imply that I’d be any happier with the other two. Being left with these three candidates is like being told you have the opportunity to stay at a luxury resort anywhere in the world and then finding out your choice is between the Holiday Inn down the road or the Travelodge across town.
On the other side of the pond, Stephen Graham keeps us informed and entertained delightfully, and I notice today that the Brown government is proposing that school kids swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen: “What?” I hear you ask; yes, an oath of allegiance to the Queen, and something I’d think would be anathema to Labour politicians in particular and to most Brits in general, even if it’s not an effort without the very best intentions for a country which doesn’t know what it has become or what it wants to be.
Another week, another set of issues.