The General Election...

...where candidates go to disillusion us and, well, show us that they're actually politicians after all.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/28/obama-undercuts-his-brand_n_109758.html

I wonder how Obama mania will survive him becoming president. I tkind of reminds me of people who liked a band before they got big, then fate them for 'selling out.' It's politics, kids. You're going to lose some battles, and you know what, none of us have got it all figured out enough to be right on every issue. The process is annoying, and it's dirty, and there are times it veers off course, but the system itself is strong and stable. Which is actually a pretty good thing.

R Kelly Fallout

Well, the most recent sign of the fall of the American legal system has come and gone, without much hoopla. On the face of it, maybe we should be nervous when someone can tape themselves having sex with a 14 year old and get off completely scott free. (Though, to be fair, the victim in the crime wouldn't confirm it was her in the video (some family members did, others didn't.) Which had to be an uncomfortable talk with the po-pos. "Is this your 14 year old niece being urinated on?" "Well, it certainly looks like her..." Thanksgiving must be its own little hell for that family.

But really, is this even close to the worst thing our legal system has ever done? I mean, we had the Dread Scott decision saying that slavery was completely legal. All of the seperate but equal cases that were upheld. Oking Roosevelt's decision to send American citizens of Japanese descent into internment camps in WWII. Allowing Comstock to read your mail and Wilson to hammer the communists at the turn of the last century.

So I guess in the end, we're treading water. Famous and rich people will always get away with more than the poor folks. It's always been the case, and it probably always will be. Sad? Maybe. Signs that we're about to be invaded by Visigoths? Probably not.

Change of Venue

By my count, this will be the 4th different place I've started to blog. I tend to let any of my blogs lapse over time, depending on how extroverted I'm feeling that week and whether or not I have anything to say. Some months, I feel like having a soapbox, some months I don't. (Or, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Please buy a candy bar.) So, let's break out the virtual champagne and get this bloggy started.