And the best the Post could do is "Ho No"?

Ok, Sherin and JP and Katie (and about a thousand of their closest friends) went to Albany yesterday for the Family Planning Advocates' action yesterday. Yup. That yesterday. When all that Spitzer business went down. (No pun intended, but now that I see it, I'll leave it there.)

SO the lobbying didn't go exactly as planned, natch. Sherin and I had some very brief and perfunctory communication on the subject, and here's an edited version of an email I sent to Sherin as a result.

Welcome back from your trip. Were you guys able to get anything done? My sense is that everything ground to a complete halt once the newest chapter of Hookergate began. What's your sense on the timing of all this? Not too damaging to RHAPP, I should think, but hardly helpful.

The Spitzer nonsense is just that. I enjoyed reading your Glenn Greenwald link, though part of me kept thinking "Glenn, do you have something against getting real?" It's a nasty Catch 22: the prostitution laws are archaic and stupid, but to say so now seems spiteful and defensive. The War Crimes and Attacks on the Constitution of the current administration are 100 times worse than what Governor Spitzer has done, but to say so now, well, see above and multiply by 2 (why, Why, WHY has the "opposition" party not been willing, eager, compelled to go after those crimes - and yes, I mean prosecute people and throw them in jail CRIMES - all along?? Why did the Democratic Governor of Vermont - real Conservative hotbed, Vermont - say that Impeachment would be a poor use of resources? And of course now Impeachment would seem like electoral politics even if it weren't for Spitzergate. Here's Nat Hentoff on that subject, sort of, and referring to a pamphlet that looks worth reading.) And Greenwald wondering why the 'crime' of prostitution gets so much play: "Why should it be such a big deal? Does every elected official have to resign for any and all lawbreaking? Like jaywalking?" Maybe good sound reasoning (Maybe. And it's very very tough to 'set aside the question of hypocrisy' in this case - God, I get nauseous reading about the gloating on Wall Street), but what world do we live in? The one where people make sense, and make decisions based on good sound reasoning? Or, you know, this world? Where people go absolutely fucking NUTS when someone mentions sex. Where the political sharks sharpen their teeth on the bones of their victims. Which world did Spitzer think he lived in?

Now - the question of what was up with those Federal (!) wiretaps is pretty effing important, and I hope it gets a lot more play than it has so far. Tied in with that, I go back to the timing of it all - relative to your action in Albany, relative to the elections, relative to FISA and the torture bill veto. Gotta say 'hmmm...' a little. Larry Craig (and Jim McGreevy) were big news (though their jobs weren't as high profile), but the timing was so much less conspicuous

[Sherin provided me with this very good Harper's link in response to these last points. No surprises here, but the information is laid out clearly and succinctly]

In other news, things are good. Much on my mind these days, about the show, about the acting career, about the dayjob, about the living situation, about life in general, but it's all good. Well, ok, not all of it is good, I suppose (with the dayjob, for instance, the little shakeup in my division is looking less and less 'little' as each day passes), but on the whole, I'm doing pretty damned well.

So there that is. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Good night and good luck.