On The Mark -- A X B ≠Bi-partisan

Trying to figure out what went wrong with the intelligence bill reminds me of trying to figure out algebra problems in high school. President Bush and VP Cheney make personal calls to their republican teammates to ensure the bill gets passed. Then two republican powerbrokers vote against the bill, thus defeating it. OK, that’s odd enough to begin with. Then you have Democratic party leaders state that republicans have let the country down by shooting down this bill. Let’s see, A x B over C does not equal, E. Or does it? I can’t remember. Does this equate to Nancy Pelosi, George Bush and Dick Cheney standing stand side by side, only to be negated by a republican? Why do I get the feeling we don’t know the whole story here yet? I guess that even when they try to be bi-partisan, they can’t.

Last week, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, On the Mark asked if there had been any studies done on who (and where) is buying all those billions of dollars of pornography, hinting that there are only so many blue states. Obviously, there is a high level of moral selectivity we’re seeing in this country (just ask O’Reilly, Bennett, Limbaugh and a few others about this). Today’s New York Times scratches the surface with its front-page article, “Many Who Voted for ‘Values’ Still Like their Television Sin.” I urge the publication to take it a step further to determine if they like their Internet and DVD sin as much, or more.

The basketbrawl (with apologies to The Misanthrope) has been well reported and blogged. Certainly some fans think they get to say and do what they want with the price of their ticket, which is wrong. But what I find fascinating is that some reporters and former athletes say “you would do the same thing if you were attacked.” These are the types of comments that demonstrate the breakdown of common sense in our society. Sensible people with common sense don’t start slugging wildly at anybody who happens to be in the vicinity of someone who threw a cup of beer at them. They don’t pile on elderly people to insanely reach their prey. Wild animals will do this. But not people with common sense.