On Politics 6/23/09: Crazy Times

OK, I'm back from Boston to attend yet another wedding . 'Tis the season and year for multiple family & friend nuptials. I'm not sure my car or my bank account will survive all of this activity.

Returning to our ongoing topic, just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger in the world of politics, and that surely does incorporate almost any perversion known to man, we've got a couple of new items to blog about.

First, we have strange behavior by a Governor. In a shocking development, he's not named Paterson, and he's not from New York. We have the honorable Mark Sanford of South Carolina deciding that he would leave town for a few days, unannounced to even his family, to go, we are now told, hiking on the Appalachian Trail (edit note: on Wed AM, Sanford disclosed he went to Argentina, not hiking, saying he wanted something more "exotic" - as if abandoning his post wasn't exotic enough). All this after political behavior even more bizarre than that, actually tying up the S.C. court system in an effort to try and refuse to federal stimulus aid; we're talking about turning his back on millions of dollar, for one of the poorest states in the country. Disagreement with federal conditions for the monies aside, one has to wonder if he sacrificed his future ambitions on a pique of anger about being told to take the cash for his state. Now, shortly after that head-scratching incident, we have him disappearing, literally, from the state capitol, scurrying off, away from family, friends, citizens, and his security detail to commune with nature. I say stay on the trail Governor, because you're obviously otherwise lost.

Secondly, we have a New Jersey man who evidently issues a real-life call to arms, asking readers of his blog to attack lawmakers in the Connecticut legislature, apparently as a result of his dissatisfaction with proposed laws governing lay person control over Catholic parish finances. Now, raised a loyal Jerseyan by birth and reared during my formative years in the beloved Garden State, I fully understand that there are a thousand things to worry about in NJ, without needing to export anger and misguided direction out of state. Yet, this dimwit urged his readers on, which of course begs the following question: Who's reading this guy's delusions, and who would follow his directions, which would include having to drive a couple of hours in order to enact whatever commands he is issuing?

Listen, I write a blog, and I am not aware of any special powers of persuasion that it grants. However, in the spirit of fairness, let's take a page from the Soupy Sales book (black and white TV reference for you kiddies out there), and try this by asking everyone who reads this to donate to a local veteran's support fund or charity (I'm not making the Soupy mistake of asking people to send me money; better to give to those in absolute need).

If that were to happen, through the power of blogs or otherwise, we'd be doing significant good.