Elliot Spitzer
Okay, I've been waiting for someone to say something, but no one has, so I feel I must chime in on the Elliot Spitzer scandal du jour. Here are two ideas you can maybe hold in your head to avoid being scandalized in the future:
IDEA NUMBER ONE
Guys like sex.
This may be, and apparently is, big news to some people.
Not only that, but a big part of what a lot of guys like about sex is that it is naughty. This, too is apparently big news to people.
Now, the institution of marriage is created to perpetuate the species and to provide those vulnerable pregnant wives and fragile little children with stable, safe home environments. This involves persuading men and women to have sex together in a safe, sanctioned manner, within the bounds of a long-term, stable relationship. And a monogamous one, so that everybody can agree whose kiddies are whose. Sex in this sort of relationship is not really naughty. It's kind of the opposite of naughty.
So, for a lot of guys, interest in sex within marriage, not being naughty, sorts of withers. Shrivels up, you might say. Shrinks. Diminishes. If you get my drift.
Not that sex is any less fun, mind you. But there is just not enough naughtiness in marital sex for a lot of married people. Women as well as men. There are several ways of dealing with this, including being really imaginative in how you deal with your spouse, doing without, using one's imagination while with your spouse without informing them (being always careful what you yell out during the act), spending a lot of time looking at porno on the internet, finding lovers outside of marriage, paying for sex. Not all of these are solutions approved by society, but many, many, many people resort to each of them every day.
We should not be surprised.
IDEA NUMBER TWO
Politicians have big egos.
This is a characteristic that is absolutly essential for a politician to have a successful career. Think about it ... they put themselves right out there and ask "do you like me?" They make a living by constantly running for class president, trying out for the cheerleader squad, asking for a date, and applying for work. Imagine how big an ego you'd have to have to do that!
And if they're successful, if they're elected, what do they get?
A grueling, thankless job, with millions of grumpy, resentful bosses. They get low pay, and long-term career prospects (at best, if not prohibited by term limits) of more of the same.
Are they paid really high wages and bonuses? No.
Are they allowed to use their positions of influence to line their own wallets, feather their nests? No.
Are they allowed to accept or dispense favors because of their elected position? No.
Are they allowed to arrange special favors for their family and friends? No.
Are they allowed to use their celebrity and public approval to get laid? No.
Do they do all these things anyway?
Duh! Of course they do!
Why would anyone in their right mind, especially someone with a giant ego, be an elected official and put up with all the flak they get, living in a perpetual fishbowl, often at direct personal expense, sometimes at direct personal peril, if they didn't benefit from it in some way?
Get real.
So we may be disappointed if we discover what it is that our favorite pol is up to behind closed doors, but we are fools if we are surprised that they're doing it.
Clinton. She's up to something.
McCain. He's up to something.
Obama. He's up to something.
If you're surprised and, uh, scandalized, when you find it out, you should be ashamed of yourself.
They're Baaaaaack!
News From Tualatin
Well, here we are esconced back in Tualatin again.
Wait a minute. What is this "esconced" business? Have we become wall lights? Anyway ...
We're back in Oregon, in anticipation of greeting Morgan and Aaron's new baby due sometime in May.
Before we even got off the plane, we could easily tell we weren't in Colorado any more. The ground below the plane wasn't all tans and white ... it was various shades of green! It is already Spring here, which makes going to Daylight Saving Time in the middle of Winter a little less peculiar. Well, okay, it's close to the end of Winter, but it's certainly not even close to Summer. While we were on the flight from Colorado Springs, we set our watches back an hour to go from Mountain Time to Pacific Time, then before we went to bed, we just turned them right forward again to where they had been Saturday morning. I love DST. NOT.
Our neighbors are in full croak again. Across the street from our condo, there's a wetlands area which I wrote about last Spring, in which many frogs spend the night chatting loudly with one another. Oh, these crazy kids these days! They sleep all day and party all night! I've never lived with frogs ... not in dry, cold Colorado. So, it's okay by me if they want to sing; I think it's cool. I try to imagine how many bugs we'd have if they weren't there to do clean-up with their sticky tongues. They kind of sound like crickets on steroids. They do that weird thing that happens also at human cocktail parties where they all quit talking all at once, and there is a sudden silence. Then slowly, one frog at a time, they start back in, so that in half a minute or so, they're back to LOUD. Eerie!
We had a great visit with the Kunzes Saturday afternoon when we arrived. Ben has changed so much in just two months! He is such a verbal kid! We thought he might be a little shy with us since he hasn't seen us for a while, but Ben never missed a beat. As soon as he saw us, he started right in telling us about his day, what he was having for lunch, how much fun it was to come to the airport, etc., etc.
Morgan looks pretty pregnant. I checked, and they're pretty sure there are NOT twins in there. She (Morgan) is doing great, and seems to be healthy and in good spirits. Her checkups have been good, so we're looking forward to a nominal late term and delivery.
Morgan and Aaron are still making improvements to their (already terrific) house. They're in the midst of replacing the fence around their back yard. The old fence was a weird home-brew arrangement of structural metal and plywood. They're re-arranging the fenced perimeter to provide some off-street parking in addition to their one-car garage ... a good thing, 'cause parking on these narrow streets is hazardous to the health of your bumpers and fenders. And, the new fenced back yard will make a safer place for Ben and Smidgen to play outside.
Today was a beautiful day, sunny in the fifties. The Rileys took today to start over, shopping for groceries, and getting everything running again in our condo. Every time we travel back and forth, I bring along a bewildering mare's nest of wires, cradles, computer accessories, palm pilots, hand-held games, headphones, earbuds, digital cameras, cell phones, battery and phone chargers, and this one other wire I'm afraid to leave behind in case I figure out what it is for after leaving it behind. I can only imagine what the poor x-ray guy from the TSA thinks when he sees this electronic spaghetti on his screen. It takes me a while to untangle all this stuff, remember what the heck it is, and plug it all back into whatever it is it plugs into. Yet, here I am sending out e-mail again, so I guess I got it all worked out okay.
Starting tomorrow, our agenda will feature helping out Morgan with the odds and ends around her house that are getting increasingly hard for her to do on her own. Like, playing with Ben (what a trial!) And I guess we'll start reviewing the routes to the hospital again.
More later as it happens here in beautiful downtown Tualatin.
Love you guys!
M & K
