We got some more snow over the weekend, well within normal for March in Michigan — maybe three new inches. But Columbus, which by March is usually well into the mud/freezing rain/defrosting dog poo stage of winter, got a foot and a half, maybe more. My brother said it was so bad, he closed his bar. Then he called one of the TV stations, to get it added to the ever-lengthening closings list.
“Um,” she said. “Is this….an institution?”
“Hell yes it’s an institution,” he replied. “It’s a bar in Obetz! That’s like a church!”
“Sir,” she said. “I don’t think you’re being serious with me.”
Well, in a blizzard, all the serious is being hogged by people trying to drive.
I said last fall that I wanted lots of snow this winter, and I guess I got my wish. (As for our boating fortunes this year, in the god-I-hope-our-slip-isn’t-dry sense of things, I go for cautiously optimistic.) I’m still not really tired of winter yet. I miss my bicycle and the color green, but so much of coping with cold weather comes down to having the sense to wear a decent coat and boots. Still, there was a moment Saturday when I turned a corner and was hit in the face by a blast of wind, and thought: OK, enough. By week’s end the temperature should be nudging 50. That’ll do.
The student film is done. I left at the DVD-burning point, which was four hours into our last editing session. I’d recommend a class like this to anyone who likes movies, just so you can see what it takes to make even a very very small one. You’ll learn why “creative differences” are such a big factor in Hollywood. We spent an hour tweaking audio filters to get the right sound on a 30-second phone conversation, so that when we cut to one character while the other one was still talking, the voice would sound like it was coming through a telephone. There’s a strong tendency, at every step of the game, to say, “Screw it. This is good enough.” You need a few perfectionists in the room.
But here’s the best thing: This really is a creative outlet that is truly collaborative, and if you have the right collaboration, it becomes more than the sum of its parts. I’ll treasure the wonder I felt at every step of the process as our three-minute story came together. I also learned a thing or two about cheats for no-budget storytelling; one scene was lit by two hand-held flashlights. It was great fun, and I can’t wait to take the next class. And yes, I’ll post the video eventually, but please be gentle.
So, Monday-morning bloggage for you folks to fight about:
The qualifier, now an ongoing series: Mitch Albom spends 60 percent of his Sunday metro column outlining two cases of bad behavior caught on video and seen widely on the internet (the puppy-throwing soldiers and car-wash mom, for those of you who keep up with such things). Then…wait for it…the qualifier:
Now, I am not condoning either act — not the dog fling, not the hosing. Neither was smart or necessary. Both seem cold, cruel, even deplorable. But I wonder where we are going when every moment of every life is filmed.
The only thing that could make that passage better would be a “dare I say” inserted between “cruel” and “even deplorable.”
Another shoe drops in the Detroit text-message scandal. We are shocked, shocked to find it’s about more than sex. In fact, it’s about sweetheart deals and other glories of life in a corrupt city. By 2002, I was certainly aware that it was perfectly legal for my bosses to look at my company e-mail. (In fact, I often wondered if they were, and was sure to give them lots of juicy reading material.) What sort of moron sends stuff like this over a public (translation: where bosses = everyone) network?
In a message on Oct. 30, 2002, (mayoral chief of staff Christine) Beatty asked him how much she owed (mayoral friend and favored contractor) Bobby Ferguson for the driveway he poured at her Detroit home.
“Ya know ya my sister,” he replied. “Family don’t worry about shit like money.”
Finally, Laura Lippman’s new book, “Another Thing to Fall,” hits stores tomorrow. Run out and buy it and make the Lippman-Simon Co-Prosperity Sphere’s March 2008 one to remember. Plot synopsis: Lippman’s P.I., Tess Monaghan, investigates shenanigans on the set of a TV series filmed in Baltimore. No, not that one. (Which reminds me: Wire-blogging reaches its crescendo over at The New Package. Distracted as I was last week by my other life, your correspondent will check in…eventually. The new slackage!
OK, that’s it for me. I have a story to write, and have to readjust my head into money-making mode.
Dorothy said on March 10, 2008 at 8:02 am
Official snow fall in Columbus was 20.4 inches. Here in Mount Vernon I think the official total was 16. I don’t know how they measure, as there was so much blowing and drifting. Saturday was a bit of a freak-out, to sit and watch it accumulate all day. But I breezed into work today, parking on the side of the street where the spaces were cleared. I think it should mostly melt by Thursday.
I auditioned for voice work for a student film here on campus a few weeks ago. He said it would take awhile to get through all the auditions, but he has secured funding for the movie. It’s going to be feature length and animated. I really hope to get a good part, as I’ve always wanted to do voice work since I got into theater. I look forward to seeing your 3 minute movie, Nancy!
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del said on March 10, 2008 at 8:29 am
>“Hell yes it’s an institution,” he replied. “It’s a bar in Obetz! That’s like a church!”
In the Simpsons movie, when news that the city’s about to be destroyed is revealed, the people in the bar empty into the church next door while the people in the church empty into the bar.
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Sue said on March 10, 2008 at 9:43 am
It’s going to be 40 degrees tomorrow. I’m crying tears of joy.
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Danny said on March 10, 2008 at 10:11 am
It’s going to be 40 degrees tomorrow. I’m crying tears of joy.
…[cough] …..wuss…. [cough]
Just kidding!
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Danny said on March 10, 2008 at 10:12 am
Man, you guys got chatty over the weekend. 95 comments.
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Danny said on March 10, 2008 at 10:17 am
Nance, I guess if Dave starts filming an episode where a female novelist gets whacked for being too nosey, America may yet get front row seats to a spat between married artistic geeks. And Laura may want to start sleeping with one eye open.
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nancy said on March 10, 2008 at 10:21 am
Tantalizing to think of, but his next project is about the war, and we all know the one after that — still at the fingers-crossed stage — is about New Orleans. If anyone gets whacked, it’ll be Ashley who does the whackin’: I told you people this is a closed set. Now are you going to go peacefully, or am I going to have to go all NOLA on you punks?
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Dave K. said on March 10, 2008 at 10:24 am
How much snow accumulated in the Fort this weekend? We flew out of DTW around 6:00 Wed. evening, and by Friday we were walking down the Hauptstrasse in beautiful downtown Heidelberg, around 50 degrees and no snow in sight. (First visit with our 7 week old grandson, Owen Michael).
His mom and dad, (daughter and son-in-law), are both US Army officers, stationed in Germany. Dad is going to Kuwait in May. Our prayers have been answered so far, they have been stationed out of Iraq/Afghanistan during the war, (Kosovo, Korea, and Seattle before Germany), but we still need to get all our men and women home.
PS. to Uncle Joe. Check out usw.org. Steelworkers President Leo Gerard is actively opposing the US Air Force tanker contract that was recently awarded to Airbus over Boeing. VERY unpopular contract with the military over here. You know who the big push for the French came from?
John McCain. Nothin’ else to say. Peace to all.
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brian stouder said on March 10, 2008 at 10:31 am
How much snow accumulated in the Fort this weekend
0.0″
(thankfully, the monster storm went for the Buckeyes, as retribution from the gods for their monster votes, no doubt!)
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Sue said on March 10, 2008 at 10:38 am
Danny, I can’t believe I was worried about you last week. You are again invited to fall into the ocean.
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Dave K. said on March 10, 2008 at 10:55 am
Brian, “…retribution from the gods…”. “Indeed!” RIP, Omar.
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Connie said on March 10, 2008 at 11:57 am
Snow in Goshen? Maybe half an inch Sunday evening. Looked like a big storm while it was falling though.
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Michael said on March 10, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I haven’t talked to my Dad (around Richmond, IN) yet, but the ice knocked his power out for three days. He wasn’t too beat up about it, but I took an extra-long walk on the beach for him.
My son complains every time we miss a snowstorm, though. I’m just happy our Christmas trip up there had sufficient snow and cold for two good days’ sledding — that gets the fix in for another year.
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john c said on March 10, 2008 at 12:43 pm
The snow-day for the bar called up this why-I-love-Chicago memory: One day years ago my car was on the fritz, so I trained it back from Arlington Heights to the city. It was starting to snow and by the time I got off at Clyborn it was coming down very hard. No cabs in site. I waited. And waited. Finally I started to walk, first across a desolate industrial stretch, then across the river. It was now a full-blown, white-out blizzard. I was bent over, fighting the wind and snow, struggling … to … make … it … to … the … light. The light, of course, was a bar (The Harp and Shamrock, I believe, on Fullerton). I stumbled in, snow swirling through the door behind me as a leaned to force it shut. The bar was half-crowded. And as I turned around I saw the conversation had stopped and all eyes were on me, red-faced and covered from head to toe with the white stuff. Suddenly the whole place erupted into a joyous round of “Hoorway! He Made It!” applause. I knew not a one of these people, by the way. But the bartender called me a cab a few hours later.
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John said on March 10, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Dave K., did you make it up the hill to visit the
Heidelberger Schloss?
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brian stouder said on March 10, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Whoa!!!
BREAKING NEWS: N.Y. Gov. Spitzer tells advisers he’s been involved in prostitution ring, New York Times reports
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23561606/
or maybe not quite “whoa”….
Honestly – this story is so bizarre and stupid that it looks like a parody….but one supposes that THAT is what life is, more or less (novelists have to work overtime to outdo reality)
edit: John C – great story!
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Dexter said on March 10, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Haha! My home county was (almost) the only Ohio county that didn’t get buried. My daughter in Hilliard (C-bus) was totally snowed in. We won, but snow is still everywhere. This winter has been the most-hated in the Dexter household for years.
I thought ‘The Wire’ ended well…can’t wait until the NOLA series starts. Simon won me over…perfect record….5 seasons and I saw every episode first-run.
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Dexter said on March 10, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Damn! NYT has it spread over page one already, natch…
THIS IS HUGE!!
http://www.nytimes.com//?oref=login
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nancy said on March 10, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Sigh. Gents, let’s take the conversation in a new direction: Is there ever a point in a man’s life when he stops following his dick around? Or does it simply end with death?
I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot lately, since the rebroadcast of the awesome “Testosterone” episode of “This American Life,” which I urge you to track down in podcast form and listen to, perhaps while you read about Eliot Spitzer.
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brian stouder said on March 10, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Is there ever a point in a man’s life when he stops following his dick around?
No.
(edit – request the opportunity to revise and extend my remarks later on; but the answer is still “No.”)
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Kafkaz said on March 10, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Oh, urgh. Three daughters. Skip the college funds and put it all into paying for therapy.
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nancy said on March 10, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Mr. Spitzer, who abruptly this morning canceled his scheduled meetings today in Albany, alerted his staff today that he was connected to an investigation of a prostitution service that charged up to $5,500 an hour. — New York Sun, today.
What does $5,500 buy you at a whorehouse these days? Surgically implanted diamond nipples? A girl with three vaginas? A medium conjures the ghost of Miles Davis to play “All Blues” while you go at it? Whatever happened to clean sheets, a firm mattress and a friendly partner?
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Kafkaz said on March 10, 2008 at 2:38 pm
“With his wife, Silda, standing at his side . . .”
Aiming a flame thrower at him, maybe?
Why is that never the next line in these things?
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brian stouder said on March 10, 2008 at 2:48 pm
What does $5,500 buy you at a whorehouse these days?
It’s gotta be – silence. A horndog at the level of Governor-of-New-York/potential-Senator would value exclusivity and absolute secrecy above all (and would pay for it…which raises the question whether his government expense account is in play).
I used to wonder why baseball players and other vastly over-paid men – who could have their pick of perfectly willing ‘free’ women – would go to whore houses…..and then the (painfully obvious) realization hit me that nobody is ever “free”; there is no end of possible ‘complications’ if one takes advantage of camp followers; but a prostitute offers a disposable relationship – like hitting the drive through at McDonald’s (so to speak)
I suppose the allure of “forbidden fruit” is another thing…
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nancy said on March 10, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Of course you’re right, Brian.
One of my bosses spoke to me after the Goeglein affair last week. Her husband was a reporter, and was doing a story on street kids in San Francisco. One night, he was interviewing a kid out on a corner somewhere, and she looked up at a billboard and said, “Oh, look. It’s Mister X.”
Say what?
Turns out the guy on the billboard was known among the kids. He would pay one or two to dress up in Catholic schoolgirl outfits while he did whatever it was he did. Too bad he was RUNNING FOR MAYOR.
He should have dropped five grand in a nice, discreet brothel somewhere, I guess.
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Sue said on March 10, 2008 at 3:11 pm
From CNN: ‘The Republican Governors Association has called on Spitzer to resign to “allow the people of New York to pursue honest leadership.”‘ Why? Because it wasn’t a male prostitution ring? Sorry. I’ll sit down now.
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brian stouder said on March 10, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Why? Because it wasn’t a male prostitution ring? Sorry. I’ll sit down now
hahahahahaha!!! – but hey – this story ain’t over yet…it’s got ‘legs’ (so to speak).
At this point, who’s to say there weren’t male prostitutes involved? At $5500/hour, midgets, chandeliers, whipped cream, Volkswagons and ill tempered red-heads could all yet come out…!
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Jeff said on March 10, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Don’t forget the log lady, and tying knots in maraschino cherry stems.
“Twin Peaks,” one of the finest documentary programs of the last century, holding its place in the non-fiction shelf well into the 21st.
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del said on March 10, 2008 at 4:11 pm
In Moonstruck the question was not whether men follow their dicks around til death, it was why they do it. Danny Aiello tried a biblical answer (something about Adam following Eve for her rib) then muttered the real answer: because they fear death.
Gotta feel bad for Mrs. Spitzer. Why does the spouse always have to show for the press conference? Mayor Kilpatrick’s wife was by his side for his mea culpa. Larry Craig’s wife was out there too. Don’t recall Hillary coming out to support WJC, so, she’s got that much going for her. But enough already with parading the victimized spouse in front of the media.
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del said on March 10, 2008 at 4:23 pm
About a week ago I mentioned Spitzer in a speech to area businesses about the insurance industry. As AG Spitzer had attacked insurance broker kickbacks; forcing resignations of CEO’s and settling cases with insurers and brokerages for hundreds of millions of dollars. According to a Wall Street Journal March 3(?) editorial I googled it looks like one insurer had to restate earnings to the tune of $3.9 billion. Wonder how he hooked up with the woman, and how the story broke.
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Jean said on March 10, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Del–yes indeedy, that was my first thought as well. Silda looks…stunned.
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whitebeard said on March 10, 2008 at 4:50 pm
excerpt from complaint on Client 9, a.k.a. Elliot Ness
LEWIS continued that from
what she had been told “he” (believed to be a reference to
Client-9) “would ask you to do things that, like, you might not
think were safe – you know – I mean that . . . very basic things.
. . . “Kristen” responded: “I have a way of dealing with that .
What would she not think were safe, voting a straight Republican ticket to give McCain false hopes?
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ashley said on March 10, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Is there ever a point in a man’s life when he stops following his dick around?
Yes, temporarily. See earlier references to Ashley on this very blog!
$5500 an hour? That’s like Jenna Jameson money. I mean, David Vitter only spent $300 an hour, and he got to wear diapers. $5500? I can’t imagine, and belive me, I’ve spent the last 20 minutes trying to.
And Nancy, I’d be happy if you wrote all my lines. Thanks.
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Danny said on March 10, 2008 at 5:13 pm
While we can all say that we understand this sort of behavior (cheating on your wife with a whore) from an intellectual standpoint, at a deeply personal level, I don’t think any of us can really can understand this. I know I can’t and I bet I am in the overwhelming majority here.
Man, some people in the public arena are extremely messed up.
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del said on March 10, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Power is an aphrodisiac.
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Harl Delos said on March 10, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Is there ever a point in a man’s life when he stops following his dick around?
No, Nancy. And women never stop being interested in romance, either.
The commandment isn’t against fornication; it’s against adultery. Screwing around is OK for single folks, but a marriage-like relationship is precious, and anyone who interferes with that relationship is smack-dab wrong. That includes the philanderer, the philanderee, and the FBI agents who call in the press.
I agree with George Carlin. Sex is legal. Selling is legal. Selling sex should be legal. The Mann Act was enacted to catch white slavers. When a sexworker is adult and self-employed, state lines shouldn’t matter.
And the only difference between this and the Larry Craig matter is that Larry Craig doesn’t want to come out of the closet. I’m not sure Larry Craig is willing to admit to himself that he *is* in the closet.
The Wall Street Journal and the GOP was gunning for Eliot Spitzer when he was still Attorney General for New York, because he was catching fat cats who were stealing from investors and consumers. For some reason, that’s immoral. (Hmmm, suddenly it makes sense that Murdoch wanted to buy Dow Jones.)
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john c said on March 10, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Del: You don’t recall Hillary standing up for Bill?! Huh?! Um. Actually she did, and still does. Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t that pretty much why nobody likes her.
I have a new reason, though. “WE WON MICHIGAN!” she said on television, in front of her cheering throngs on Tuesday night (at a rally in Texas, which she did not win, by the way). When this Michigander heard that he threw his cheap Flagstaff hotel pillow at the set. She says she will abide by party rules like the loyal Democrat she is. Then she sneaks her name on the ballot at the last minute, while Obama stays true to his word. Then she wins, beating out “uncommitted” and kicking the shite out of …. Dennis Kucinich. Then she stands up on national TV and says “We Won!” Then her and Bill are shocked, SHOCKED, that party leaders would disenfranchise all those voters.
Grrrr.
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Kafkaz said on March 10, 2008 at 7:55 pm
From the website: “Emperors’ Club vip is a positive force, intensely committed to serving our customers honestly. Our goal is to make life more peaceful, balanced, beautiful and meaningful. We honor commitment to our clients as we covet long-term relationships of trust and mutual benefit. Experience for yourself a service of obvious distinction…”
SNORT!!!
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Kafkaz said on March 10, 2008 at 8:00 pm
More from the website: “Choosing from only the most impressive model companion candidates, you’ll personally find that Emperors Club is, by far, the most selective social introduction service. Beauty, elegance, erudition, and educational standing / career accomplishments are preliminary decisive factors in hiring. Each model’s character, personality, ability to create desirable atmosphere, interests, family background and career success must be deemed suitable. Initial rates have been established based on the above criteria. With time, promotion, if any, to higher category (ies) is considered and based upon our expanded knowledge of the model’s character and the grace with which she handles public relations / interactions. It is advised to schedule your dates with our models in advance, as each model has place in her schedule for a select number of meetings per month due to her university / career commitments. National and International Travel arrangements require at least 48 hours notice and a minimum 55% deposit. We recognize the importance of personality connection, friendship and comfort level when traveling together / attending social events; hence, hourly introductions are offered to ensure confidence / value prior to committing to travel dates and social engagements with any specific model. Such preliminary meetings make for risk-free dating and travel experiences.”
See? It ain’t about the sex at all. It’s about companionship with a lovely, educated, accomplished woman.
Oh, wait. That’s the kind of woman the wife is.
Oops. Guess it’s about sex with someone who decidedly isn’t the wife.
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del said on March 10, 2008 at 8:04 pm
John c, I didn’t know that Hillary claimed to have won Michigan the other day. I’m sorry to hear that. It’s kinda rude given what went down here.
I know she’s no Tammy Wynette stand-by-her-man woman but did she really “stand up” for Bill? Anyway, what I meant was that I don’t remember her appearing before the cameras as Bill’s accessory for a mea culpa (a la Larry Craig and Elliott Spitzer’s wives). Come to think of it, did WJC ever do that? I may have missed it because, like many men, I spend a lot of time following it around . . .
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Harl Delos said on March 10, 2008 at 8:54 pm
It appears that they’re just going after Eliot Spitzer because his wife works for Senator Clinton. For some strange reason, all mention of the name “Spitzer” disappeared from her website today, but it was too late.
Geraldine Ferraro, a member of Senator’s finance committee (didn’t the campaign run out of money at a crucial time?), said today, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”
Wow. I guess the next thing you know, the n-word will no longer be verboten. They’ll play “Hail To The N-word” when President Obama enters a room….
Thank you, Geraldine, for your thoughtful and kind remarks.
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Peter said on March 10, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Well, the old saying is that you don’t pay a prostitute for sex, you pay her to go away and be quiet after you’ve had sex. For the governor’s sake, I sure hope that service does the honorable thing and refund his money.
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Kafkaz said on March 10, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I never think of the wives who end up standing there looking grim as being somehow “mea culpa accessories.” It’s easy to imagine them being in shock, and swept along in the sea of advisors, assistants, aides, lawyers, strategists, and on and on.
The world as she knows it explodes and implodes all at once, the political machine kicks in, and suddenly there she stands before the cameras and the microphones. Often, though, it must all seem surreal–like having a nightmare come to life, and being paralyzed in it. A normal person might scream, cry, hop in the car, walk away, throw things, insist on knowing every last detail of just how scummy he is or whatever, but these aren’t normal lives these folks are living. Even though intellectually I know that sex workers are likely to be practiced in the ways of safe sex, and to be routinely tested for STD’s, my first instinct would probably be to call my gynecologist so she could test me for every possible thing. How does this woman find the moment or the privacy to do even that much? How does she make room for tears, for talks with the kids, for just being alone and pondering all of the consequences, and her own plans for the future? Mostly, I think, I’d just want to be alone.
It is interesting to imagine what the speeches these wives fanatasize about having given–the way many of us think of the perfect come back waaaaaay after the fact–would sound like.
She brushes aside the posse, steps to the microphone, and says . . .what?
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Jeff said on March 10, 2008 at 10:31 pm
But you have to think this isn’t the first time, it isn’t a total shock, and once you’ve excused (forgiven?) the lapse once, how do you walk away the next time . . . or the next, and . . .
I can’t imagine the first conversation, and i coulda sworn i had some testosterone in my last blood test. But reading some rationalizations, i get the impression my real worry should be about why i’m not out doing this everytime my wife has a bad month at home. Not how my wife would disembowel me (or worse, and i’m thinkin’ there’s worse) the first time i told her i’d, um, stepped out of line this way.
And there’s really no credit for myself i’m fishing for here, because i really can’t even imagine the temptation. At. All. So there’s no superiority here on my part, just the question of how this kind of kink begins and maintains itself as you go on flying close to the sun.
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Kafkaz said on March 10, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Oh, I suppose that’s right, Jeff–and how unutterably sad is that? She may have known, or known and not really wanted to know, or suspected, or had a vague feeling, or have struck one of those complicated emotional bargains, or whatever, but still–this just can’t be a normal life in any of the ways we usually think of that, can it? Most of us get to live out our stupidity, our weaknesses, and our failings in relative privacy. We don’t wake up to, “Oh, by the way, the guy you’re married to–the ‘clean up the dirt’ dude?–his visit to a pricey prostitute will be all over the news today. Coffee?” I mean, it’s just unthinkable. And these are public women for whom appearances matter a whole lot. I don’t think I could stand the pressure of always, always, always having to be perfectly buffed and polished for public consumption, and that’s the least of what they take on. That they not only take it on willingly, but actually fight for the opportunity is pretty mind blowing.
Marriage is a helluva complicated thing even for nondescript ordinary citizens like me. For these folks? Sheesh.
Meanwhile, of course, we live in a world where we’re somehow both oversexed and almost completely incapable of talking or thinking about sex in any intelligent fashion. College students were enlightening on this score: they used to tell me that discussing safe sex or contraception or emotional connections with a partner would be terribly embarrassing (so, shudder, *intimate*), whereas actually having the sex was no issue–no bfd.
Okay, now I’ve depressed myself about humanity.
The fact that we invented cake, and routinely share it with each other, is sometimes all that keeps me going.
That, and poetry.
Here’s a good one, by Anna Akhmatova:
He loved three things:
White fowls, evensong,
And antique maps of America.
He hated the crying of children,
Raspberry jam at tea,
And female hysteria.
And I was his wife.
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Dexter said on March 11, 2008 at 1:29 am
Personally, never has a story, just broken, gotten so cold and rotten and ugly so quickly.
Mrs. Silda Spitzer …so sad , so hard a thing to go through, and I think they have 3 teenage daughters, also.
It seems most pundits don’t believe they’ll throw the entire Mann Act statutes at Gov. Eliot, that could end up with a 20 year prison term. But he’s finished, the governor who was so popular he received , what? 80% of the voters’ approval BEFORE the election and then immediately was hated by the same percentage! Scandal after scandal makes it that way.
Anybody know anything about the African American Lt. Gov. of NY?
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Harl Delos said on March 11, 2008 at 6:48 am
Amy Ephron says she wants to see Silda Spitzer at the Governor’s Mansion, stomping her foot, and crying out, “And another thing, I’m keeping the house!”
David Paterson is legally blind and widely liked. Congressman Peter King (R-Long Island) calls Paterson a “thoroughly decent guy”.
Born in 1954, 1977 gets history degree from Columbia, 1982 gets JD degree from Hofstra, 1985 starts representing Harlem in NY State Senate, 2002 minority leader, 2006 wins post as Lt. Governor.
I imagine there have been jokes about “minority leader” and about people pulling the wool over his eyes, but I have too much class to make one of them.
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Harl Delos said on March 11, 2008 at 6:52 am
Wonkette has pictures of some of the *other* women working for the outfit, but I haven’t seen any of Kristen.
At $4300 for a VERY short work day, I’m inclined to think that prostitution victimizes women. Where does a guy sign up to be victimized?
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Jeff said on March 11, 2008 at 7:26 am
Not to bring anyone down (Nancy), but Lileks likes “The Wire” —
http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/08/0308/031108.html
(comments on TW start halfway down).
He also makes a passing comment, as a number have in the last <24 hrs. about legalization. I’m torn on this one, having spent time in prisons talking to women who were generally in for other things (assault, murder) but whose primary job description before their last arrest was “lot lizard” or “lady o’ the night (or hour).”
My negative reaction is mainly to assertions that it’s a victimless crime, which is hooey, but that the victim is most emphatically the woman. There have been plenty of stories of women who would say for a camera or reporter that they “chose” their work, their vocation as a “sex worker,” and most of them, if they lived that long, got out later and then had a story of beatings, psychological manipulation, economic desperation, and drugs that were why and how they stayed in the life.
So going legalization feels like it won’t help that end of the problem, which was the same question i had for Ed and David after their star turn on “Talk of the Nation” yesterday (check NPR archives for mp3). I think they’re onto the right track, and i’m pretty much with their “jury nullification within limits” proposal, but won’t legalization just affirm a different level of victimization?
Although i think their response would be (David, if you’re still reading, feel free to straighten me out) that it’s better not to have Da Government victimizing people, and stopping the dealer/profiteer/thug victimizers is Step B, not to be confused with Step A, end the drug war/war on the underclass.
The prostitution example slows me up from signing onto any wholesale legalization plan to cure social ills by making them mainstream, but de-criminalizing major aspects of both drug use and money-for-sex to protect the most helpless makes tons of sense. Paying for it, illegal, taking the money, not so much; distributing drugs, illegal, selling it on the corner, littering & loitering charges only.
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Peter said on March 11, 2008 at 8:23 am
OK, I’ll be the Dick of the Day: I wonder what’s going through Tim G’s mind right about now – is it “Hoo, thank God I only plagarized – this guy’s really getting raked over the coals”, or is it “Boy, I should have just kept quiet for a week and this would have pushed my story off the page and I’d still have my job”
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brian stouder said on March 11, 2008 at 8:40 am
Jeff, thanks for the Lileks link. I never knew the second syllable of his name rhymed with “reeks” (I thought it rhymed with “sex”)
and then, my nn.c training kicked in, and I immediately saw his misuse of the word ‘piece’….but I did like his take on Spitzer (yet another Dickensian name, as it turns out)
I didn’t get the ‘slanty’ business, though
To be specific: my newspaper column returns. In the paper. Also on Sunday. In the Metro section. Bonus points: it’s under my name. For my entire tenure at the Strib the column has been named something else, lest people recoil in horror at the ambivalent penultimate vowel – short e, long e, who knows? (Long.) There’s no formula, no name like “the Quirk” (I made my piece with that, but there were days it made me want to open my belly with a corkscrew) or “the Backfence (the thing over which I leaned, neighborly, to engage neighbors in genial patter – that was the idea, anyway; the format meant there were long blocks of italic type that gave readers a handy visual clue. Skip the slanty part!) Now it’s a column with my name.
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Connie said on March 11, 2008 at 9:25 am
Is there ever a point in a man’s life when he stops following his dick around?
You know why men give a cute name to their dick? You wouldn’t want a stranger making all your decisions for you.
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Harl Delos said on March 11, 2008 at 10:44 am
Is there ever a point in a man’s life when he stops following his dick around?
Only when he walks backwards. Otherwise, it’s eight inches ahead of the rest of him.
(If you notice the post above yours, there’s a line that goes “made my piece with that”. The biggest problem with politicians is that they’re illiterate, so they think their constitutents want them to make piece instead of making peace.)
You know why men give a cute name to their dick?
I thought it was always girlfriends that did the naming. If guys did the naming, it’d end up being named something like “Mr Tasty” every time.
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Jeff said on March 11, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I think James meant the alternating-ness of a row of pickets in a picket fence.
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brian stouder said on March 11, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I think James meant the alternating-ness of a row of pickets in a picket fence.
Really?
At first I thought he meant, his part of the conversation in italics, and then the answer back in plain text; and then I thought his italics would illustrate that the fence was being leaned upon….and then I thought he meant italics for what he’s thinking, and plain text for what he’s saying….and then I gave up – but I didn’t think of your pickets! Very imaginative
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