Be Nice To People On The Way Up...
Mar. 11th, 2008 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksWoorr, so much that I could write about. But surely the Spitzer affair must take pride of place. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I also follow the dictum of never letting the truth get in the way of a good story.
Since I'm re-reading "American Tabloid" at the moment, and have just finished wathing a series of "The Wire", it's hard not to imagine a scenario where Spitzer got set up by his not inconsiderable number of enemies.
Venue: A Hotel Room
Spitzer Victim 1: Eliot! Welcome! Perhaps you'd like to see this video made by a "concerned citizen" in a Washington DC hotel room.
(Shows Tape).
Spitzer Victim 2: Now, Eliot, we are all men of the world. A penchant for attractive women is nothing to be ashamed of. However, there are other, less enlightened people, who don't feel that way. And, well, you know the power of You Tube these days....
Spitzer Victim 1: So, we are sure that you will 'do the right thing' here, Eliot...
The delicious irony of this is that the hooker went on a train trip (paid for by Spitzer) to Washington, across state lines. If it was a set-up, you couldn't plan it more perfectly, because this brings the Mann Act into play, which makes it illegal to transport a woman across state lines for immoral purposes.
Why is this a delicious irony? Because Spitzer went after many of his targets using laws that were designed for completely different purposes than those used by Spitzer. Although we talk about the UIGEA crippling online poker, the UIGEA has never been used against an online poker site. Older laws were used, ones written before the Internet was invented.
The Mann Act of 1910 is actually the White-Slave Traffic Act, and was ostensibly introduced to stop the trafficking of prostitutes (itself an interesting point, given the tabloid headlines in the UK these days). The Mann Act was never used to stop white slavery, but was used many times to prosecute people who had upset the system.
And so, a lifetime climbing a slippery political pole comes to a sudden end. It's a tough world out there.
+++++++++++++++++
I went for a meal at a Morroccan restaurant on the Edgware Road last night. Jan and I had seen off Diane's (grown-up) children at Heathrow. Well, we would have seen them off, but the flight to Bangkok was postponed until 8.30 this morning, so we did a kind of artificial wave goodbye at the check-in queue. So, stopping off at a sidestreet, we headed to the Idri Mahrouf. I had a lamb shank with saffron rice and Jan had a Tagines of Sea Bass. The main courses were v nice, although the sautéed vegetables were, well, to be blunt, rather awful. The rstaurant also smacks on a three quid cover charge for "live" music. This is a good business model, because we would both have happily paid another tenner for them to shut up.
As a restuarant, I felt that it was a bit of a wasted opportunity. The main parts of the meal were great (as was the complimentary bowl of fruit), but just a little bit more attention to the accompaniments would have made it perfect.
Oh, and our table was wobbly. But, a good effort all round (and very friendly service). 7 out of 10.
Anyway, after seeing Jan off on her trek back to Pershore, I noticed that I was a mere 100 yards from the Vic. I considered a quick visit and, in the words of Billy Joel, "when I wore a younger man's clothes', that's what I would have made. However, I looked at my watch and it was 11pm, and I was a good hour from home, and I had to be up at 5.30am. So, I'm sad to say, I bottled it and came home.
++++++++
One of the traps set off last night, Mouse not caught. Bastard. I think I shall have to go for the Kit-Kat option.
____________
Since I'm re-reading "American Tabloid" at the moment, and have just finished wathing a series of "The Wire", it's hard not to imagine a scenario where Spitzer got set up by his not inconsiderable number of enemies.
Venue: A Hotel Room
Spitzer Victim 1: Eliot! Welcome! Perhaps you'd like to see this video made by a "concerned citizen" in a Washington DC hotel room.
(Shows Tape).
Spitzer Victim 2: Now, Eliot, we are all men of the world. A penchant for attractive women is nothing to be ashamed of. However, there are other, less enlightened people, who don't feel that way. And, well, you know the power of You Tube these days....
Spitzer Victim 1: So, we are sure that you will 'do the right thing' here, Eliot...
The delicious irony of this is that the hooker went on a train trip (paid for by Spitzer) to Washington, across state lines. If it was a set-up, you couldn't plan it more perfectly, because this brings the Mann Act into play, which makes it illegal to transport a woman across state lines for immoral purposes.
Why is this a delicious irony? Because Spitzer went after many of his targets using laws that were designed for completely different purposes than those used by Spitzer. Although we talk about the UIGEA crippling online poker, the UIGEA has never been used against an online poker site. Older laws were used, ones written before the Internet was invented.
The Mann Act of 1910 is actually the White-Slave Traffic Act, and was ostensibly introduced to stop the trafficking of prostitutes (itself an interesting point, given the tabloid headlines in the UK these days). The Mann Act was never used to stop white slavery, but was used many times to prosecute people who had upset the system.
And so, a lifetime climbing a slippery political pole comes to a sudden end. It's a tough world out there.
+++++++++++++++++
I went for a meal at a Morroccan restaurant on the Edgware Road last night. Jan and I had seen off Diane's (grown-up) children at Heathrow. Well, we would have seen them off, but the flight to Bangkok was postponed until 8.30 this morning, so we did a kind of artificial wave goodbye at the check-in queue. So, stopping off at a sidestreet, we headed to the Idri Mahrouf. I had a lamb shank with saffron rice and Jan had a Tagines of Sea Bass. The main courses were v nice, although the sautéed vegetables were, well, to be blunt, rather awful. The rstaurant also smacks on a three quid cover charge for "live" music. This is a good business model, because we would both have happily paid another tenner for them to shut up.
As a restuarant, I felt that it was a bit of a wasted opportunity. The main parts of the meal were great (as was the complimentary bowl of fruit), but just a little bit more attention to the accompaniments would have made it perfect.
Oh, and our table was wobbly. But, a good effort all round (and very friendly service). 7 out of 10.
Anyway, after seeing Jan off on her trek back to Pershore, I noticed that I was a mere 100 yards from the Vic. I considered a quick visit and, in the words of Billy Joel, "when I wore a younger man's clothes', that's what I would have made. However, I looked at my watch and it was 11pm, and I was a good hour from home, and I had to be up at 5.30am. So, I'm sad to say, I bottled it and came home.
++++++++
One of the traps set off last night, Mouse not caught. Bastard. I think I shall have to go for the Kit-Kat option.
____________
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Mouse Trap
Date: 2008-03-11 03:42 pm (UTC)Re: Mouse Trap
Date: 2008-03-11 06:20 pm (UTC)Reading Paxman on Derek Conway, it strikes me that politics is, essentially, the art of not making any more enemies than you can cope with at any given time.
The Mann Act (1910) is quite fascinating, because it plays into both American hysteria ("Them thar's no White Whale, Capn Q! It be a White Slaver, or my name ain't Ichabod!") and, interestingly enough, an ingrained understanding of the Constitution. One of the more successful parts of this (at least economically speaking, and in practice politically speaking) was the Commerce Clause, which, through various precedents in the Supreme Court (Gibbons being the obvious example), became the touchstone for an internal federal market. It's spent around 220 years clashing wonderfully with the concept of "States' Rights," though. (Naturally, Bork resorts to the Tenth Amendment to defend the latter in this case. He is a moron, but at least he doesn't drink his Pepsi with a pubic hair up.)
Interesting that it's perfectly legal to transport men, boys, dogs, small furry animals, or indeed vacuum cleaners across state lines for the purpose of sexual gratification. I can't help feeling that HST would have had a field day with this. I wouldn't write Spitzer off, if I were you. (cf the estimable John McCain, whose reputation in Arizona real estate calls Hilly's in Clearwater and then shoves, rather decisively.)
My general take on this is that there should be a time-limit on legislation, perhaps along the lines of the time-limit on copyright. Yes, 75 years should just about do it. It isn't necessarily the case that The Law is wrong; just that it's become so fuzzy around the edges that it no longer consists of anything except special pleading and spurious antecedents. Here in Britain we're guilty of the same thing: the witchcraft and blasphemy laws made a laughing-stock out of the judiciary (who have little choice in these matters).
Common Law (which, in theory, the Americans share, although as far as I can see it's codified in the Constitution and in the Bill of Rights) is a different matter.
One last pertinent quote, from Justice Marshall: "Commerce, undoubtedly is traffic, but it is something more — it is intercourse."
Res ipsa loquitur.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-11 07:37 pm (UTC)You should get a cat. Of course, it should be all white so you can recline in your wing-backed chair and cackle.
I will resist cheap jokes along the lines of "It's the only pussy you'll get at your advanced age." Ooops!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-11 11:15 pm (UTC)On mice I suggest wire wool wrapped around any pipes or holes into the house.
Ben
Liverpool
no subject
Date: 2008-03-12 07:19 am (UTC)As for the "most comments" topic, it would certainluy be something off the wall. I'll see if I can hunt down the answer...
PJ