Bits & Pieces

 

Bits and pieces from this reporter’s notebook.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet.....The cartoon rioting continues throughout the Muslim world with Western embassies torched and people killed and injured. Let’s put this in context. People reach such a fevered pitch over something they hear about a drawing in a newspaper five months ago that they get themselves shot. Here’s another perspective. If you haven’t seen it yet, it may soon arrive over the e-transom...Jesus Christ the Musical. Some clever types made a funny video. I won’t give away the plot. Suffice it to say that many who take their religion more seriously that its meaning will be offended, though I doubt they would try to burn down the Internet. One enlightened Christian lady wrote, "i laughed so hard that the walls shook."

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....The Enron trial continues into its second week. No telling how long it will run. It may be a little complicated for the prosecutor to explain how these crooks -- oh, sorry, alleged crooks -- did their dirty deeds, and the high-priced defense attorneys will need time to obfuscate. Many people who oppose capital punishment would make an exception for the Enron execs. Many also wonder why it has taken four years to bring them to trial.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....Speaking of long judicial lead times, there is the sentencing hearing of the so-called 20^th Nine-Eleven terrorist, Zacarias Moussaoui. He has already pled guilty, and now a jury in Virginia is going to decide what should happen to him. It probably doesn’t matter that the guy is crazy as a bedbug; he was in and out of the courtroom four times for mouthing off. You’d think some duct tape would fix everything.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....They could also try that in the Saddam case, where a guy whose criminal record extends a good decade before we brought him to power some thirty years ago. Everybody knows the man killed more innocents than Henry Kissinger, and it’s been two years since we toppled his statue. What’s the problem? Is the toaster broke? I mean, it’s not like he’s gonna be acquitted by a Kurdish judge. Just stick him back in the rat hole where we found him with no TV or yard privileges.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....I don’t know how people do it, watch Alberto Gonzales testifying before the Senate. He’s the chief law officer of the United States of America and he should be in that rat hole with Saddam. This man should arrive on Capitol Hill supine ‘cause he lies like a rug, oozing intellectual puss like Pat Robertson. He wrote the it’s-good-to-torture memo and believes the Constitution has as much substance as a roll of paper in Cheney’s bathroom.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....Thrill-seeker Steve Fossett is preparing for another record-setting flight around the globe. The trip will be 26,084 miles and take about 80 hours. Now I love flying -- learning to fly was the most important thing I ever did in my whole life -- but these endurance runs seem mindless to me. Sitting atop a gasoline tank, eating a special diet so you won’t have to go potty -- if you’re not already -- and having a device that will wake you if you fall asleep...I mean, so what? It’s like eating 26 grilled cheese sandwiches in ten minutes. What has been accomplished?

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....Finally, speaking of mindless, the Rolling Stones had two words cut from their performance at the Superbowl. The songs have been heard millions of times, of course, but two seconds worth of overt sexual content was snipped from the stadium and network television versions. The real obscenity were dozens of steroid cases trying to jar brains loose and break limbs, and these acts replayed over and over and over again. As George Carlin said, I like my sex and violence separate.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.

 

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