Mostly just pissed. Maybe a bit pissed on as well. I'm sick of this shit.

Good evening, DW, and thanks for the reminder that the nightmare sometimes takes weird-ass detours between the scenes of carnage. This whole stage has become a free-for-all of surreal proportions. This kinda shit tells me that I need to study more history, 'cause this can't be the most screwed up things have ever been, anywhere.

I lost the best thing I ever had 'cause I couldn't keep it in my pants ( Present ex-wife not in that scene. ) so, no finger-pointing by me.

Guys has gotta learn that if you're running for political office, you'd better make sure you got some kind of clear title to a vehicle if you're gonna check its oil level with your dipstick.

So, I'm in the clear, then, Peter.

The Dark Wraith checks the manifold pressure from the backseat.

Stop. You're making me laugh. Out loud. Everybody knows you should take a test drive for any vehicle you're considering, to be sure you like how it handles.

Anyway... WHY is this such big fricken news? And so what? Edwards isn't running, and McClone IS still running. So, where's all the news coverage about McCain's affair(s)? I mean, isn't that fair game, too?

And besides, affairs sure don't seem to prevent Republicans from getting elected. (Or re-elected.)

You're right, of course, Moody Blue.

Unfortunately, illicit affairs—indeed, sex of any kind—seems to do nothing to make the Right-wingers mellower fellows.

The late comedian Paul Lynde, a regular on the game show Hollywood Squares, was once asked by the game show host the question, "Does getting a tom cat neutered calm him down?"

Lynde gave his trademark laughing snort and shot back, "No, but it sure teaches him who's boss."

The Dark Wraith finds a lot to be considered in that bit of harsh but true wisdom.

Actually, Wraith, I'm still back and forth on this.

As a voter, I do feel somewhat (okay, a lot) betrayed that this went on in 2006, and still he sought to run as a candidate after that. In that perspective, I do feel like one who has had their trust betrayed.

On the political side, I don't see what the big-assed deal is when there are/have been so many republicans in office who have had their own affairs. Nor do I understand why anyone's sex life would have any bearing on their ability to perform on their job.

On the MSM side, they seem to be more averse to even mentioning any of that with the presumptive repub candidate, and would rather focus a candidate who is no longer in the running. And I still haven't figured out why Obama is supposed to have a problem because of it. WTF? The finger pointing hypocrisy is laughable, to say the least.

On a private level, it was a situation between two consenting adults; and it really is a matter that should be handled between Elizabeth and John, and their kids, and it is really not anybody else's business. And I do admire Elizabeth for being generous in her forgiveness and loyalty, but then she is also looking out for the best interests of her family.

On the public level, when you shine your little light in politics, one should be aware of the spotlights shining back on you.

Arrgh.

But you make an interesting point with Paul Lynde's retort. Maybe that should be the appropriate solution to the zipper problems.

Good afternoon, Moody Blue.

Yes, matters of the heart and all parts south should be private, and the recurrent theme of destroying candidates for their sexual indiscretions is largely bread and circuses for the masses. (There is, however, a darker side that I shall explore either in a subsequent comment, if sufficiently prodded, or in a later post.) Furthermore, I make distinctions among stories of politicians' sexual habits. For example, what was done to Republican Jack Ryan in Illinois during the 2004 campaign was nothing short of reprehensible, and subsequent events have only borne out my suspicions that those who aspired to wreck the man had nothing other than bad policies and politics to offer instead.

As much as there was, indeed, a degree of criminal activity on the part of Republicans in that state that led to the take-over by Democrats (taking kickbacks for commercial drivers licenses is earth-shatteringly horrible of that Republican governor), Ryan was not a part of that; but, if the Dems want to paint the broad brush stroke of destruction, fine: I will oppose just about any Democrat who comes out of that Democratic sleaze, corruption, and mob-controlled cesspool they call the Illinois Democratic Party.

That, by the way, includes Barack H. Obama, their hand-picked aspirant to the national throne.

On the other side, if we're going to paint the broad brush stroke in deciding on elected officials, the same goes for any Republican who comes out of the Ohio GOP engine, run city by city as it is by the most Right-wing, religion-addled families you'll ever want to see: every Ohio Republican will be unacceptably and permanently tainted; and this will be the case for generations to come, given that Ohio Republicans seem inter-generationally incapable of escaping the grip of nearly Medieval thinking in their policies and practices.

Politics of destruction: the center is gone, but that black hole where it was surely makes for a great circus ride.

The Dark Wraith, for the time being, is finished rambling.

Wraith, do you mean like a roller coaster ride?

Of course, as always, it's the sex that sells the most. It's a basic human instinct thing, just like eating and sleeping. And I suppose, too, that there are those who enjoy seeing higher muckety-mucks brought down to size.

"Who's doing whom" is what catches the more prurient interests of most of the citizen public, I suppose (...and then the advertisers hit ya with a burger commercial and a Sominex one: a regular ol' three fer). And it's convenient to use that as a way of distracting from the more important political and social issues of the day, especially with the help of cooperative and complicit infotainment media. Sometimes it seems more like gotcha game show style politics have become the daily soap operas of our time and not the business of politics at all.

The thing is, when someone lives large and is in the public eye, I think they should be held to a higher standard of conduct. Saying that anyone should trust them when their own personal track record is untrustworthy smacks of hypocrisy... I don't care who they are.

The country at large wouldn't really give a rat's ass if less public figures, say like everyday people such as you and me, did that kind of stuff. And I dare say that even in our "lesser" lives we still hold ourselves to higher standards than many of those who would aspire to "lead" us.

People of privileged positions usually seem to think they have special dispensation for their actions because they are who they are. That's been the way it always has been, hasn't it? But for crying out loud, have they EVER heard of discretion being the better part of valor?

And then again, just how much are the voters to blame for not holding the elected officials to higher standards? That's also a tough call, if many skeletons are left in the closet. Especially when you've got one party pimping themselves (again, using that broad brush stroke) as the "family values" party when there is so much utter and outlandish public hypocrisy that I could just screech!

Maybe I'm thinking of that splinter/log eye thing, too?

And again, I really don't care so much about their sex lives as I do about their job performance.

*prod* - *prod*

:o)

Wraith?

Given that Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, this is current fighting between Russia and Georgia is yet another front on the Hydrocarbon Battlefields, isn't it?

Finally!

Thank you, Moody Blue.

The Dark Wraith was afraid he was going to have to make this point, himself.

That was my first impression when it all started, but I really was hesitant to mention it, Wraith. Then, I had to take some time to fashion another foiled hat.

Odd how there doesn't seem to be many references by the MSM of the oil pipelines in the area, isn't it?

Perhaps "Odd" isn't the best word.

"Expected" works.

"Convenient," maybe.

"Appropriate" might be even better.

"Disgraceful" is sort of obvious, though.

Typical?

I guess it all still fits under the "sex - politics" labels for this post: *Somebody* is gonna get so screwed.

And the oil slut in chief is over there in China, waving his little pom poms and flapping his lips, and is about as useful as ... our "illustrious" foreign policy "experts" department. (I wonder what the heck the hic-i-c was under the influence of when he saw Putin's soul when he looked into Pootie-poots eyes? Perhaps a kindred spirit?)

45 minutes ago: Russia has boosted its forces in Abkhazia, a second rebel region of Georgia, and now has more than 9000 paratroopers and 350 armour there, Interfax news agency quoted an aide to the commander of Russian peacekeepers as saying ...

John "bomb'em to bits" Bolton sez we should bombing runs on Iranian sites, though he says he'd prefer regime change since that would bring stability to the region. I guess the bombing first is to soften up the mullahs, mebbe the blasts will bounce them out of their homes. Then the Unregimers will just come along and scoop them up and take them away, with resultant flowers, weeping with joy from the grateful throngs, etc.

Putin's IM to Bolton: Hey Johnny? You might want to tell Dicky to shut his sneering cakehole about S. Ossetia, if you want UN legitimizing, Capesceski? Gotta go...am protecting living shit out of southside. I tell you comrade, now I know how much fun you guys were having with your "Shock and Awe". Arrivaderski!

Whoa... for the record, from Reuters:

Georgia appealed for international intervention on Monday and pulled its battered forces back to defend the capital, as Russian troops moved further into its territory, ignoring Western pleas to halt.

"The Georgian army is retreating to defend the capital. The Government is urgently seeking international intervention to prevent the fall of Georgia," a Georgian statement said. [snip]

The conflict has unsettled oil markets because Georgia hosts a key pipeline supplying the West. It has alarmed investors in Russia and has raised fears of a wider conflagration in the volatile region bordering Iran, Turkey and Russia.

Reuters Special Coverage

It would seem, Moody Blue, that the title of my article, "Hydrocarbon Battlefields," was not hyberbole.

No hyperbole, at all, Wraith. You nailed it well.

I just don't know how best to express how the insights and knowlege you share are such wonderful teachings for me. I very much do appreciate all that you do. And I thank you so much.

I do remember our discussing some of this M.E. pipeline stuff before you put together that totally awesome "Hydrocarbon Battlefields" post two years ago, Wraith. I was having difficulty trying to put a lot of things together, and that post really helped me sort out a lot that I wasn't sure of; and that is why it also helped me understand more when I went back (again) to read it (as you prolly noted!) over the weekend:

"The tangle of pipelines around the Caspian renders evidence of the strategic importance of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan; and even though both are members of the SCO, their own interests will to a great extent override any possibility of unwavering loyalty to their fellow members of that bloc. Specific to that point is the map at right, which depicts the area around and to the West and South of the Caspian Sea, with only one pipeline represented, the so-called Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, so named for the three major cities close to which it passes on its way from Azerbaijan clear to the Mediterranean. (Note that the pipeline shown east of the Azeri shore of the Caspian Sea is not part of the BTC pipeline but uptakes extracted Kazakh hydrocarbons moving west.) Its rather twisted path ensures, first, that it passes through only Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, and second, that it swings around regions of those three countries where rebels and other restive groups could interfere with the operations. [snip]

"The final graphic, presented at left, appears at first glance to be the same as the BTC pipeline route graphic presented earlier in this article. Careful inspection may be needed to see the addition: it can be found as a pale extension of the BTC pipeline from its outlet at the southern end of Turkey, down the eastern coastal waters of the Mediterranean, and ending in Israel."

No matter whatever bullshit M.E. story anyone is trying to sell us, it always seems that it's really about the oil, and the control over it. I don't see any good way out of this oily mess.

And the poor people, who just want to live out their lives in peace, that end up being caught in the way of any powers wanting to take over the flow control, are also just so screwed.

Back to Edwards for a moment: sleaze? Yeah. But I believe the questions is also, how newsworthy is this story? He's out of the running (probably this indiscretion had something to do with that.)

The papers should make the decision to print based on all considerations, not salacious value alone. His wife Elizabeth is suffering terminal cancer. She stands to be hurt most at this time. I guess they didn't want a Murdoch publication to beat them out. If it were I, I would choose not to run this, at this time.

DW, I should like to read your further thoughts (There is, however, a darker side that I shall explore either in a subsequent comment, if sufficiently prodded, or in a later post.)