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Odds and ends from one obsessed Saturday, Mar 15, 2008 By John Brummett Here are a few items you might have missed if you're not watching the political goings-on quite as obsessively as some of us do. _____ Germaine Greer, noted and irascible Australian feminist academic and author, got herself quoted the other day taking apart the notion of Hillary Clinton as a women's champion. Greer said, "I can't see that Hillary would appeal to feminists. Why is she there? "She is there because she is Bill's wife, and it's a bit useless to pretend, 'Oh, it's because of her wonderful job as a senator,' and all that. I just don't think it's true. "When she had a big job in government (health care reform in 1993) she blew it." Greer, who said she knew the Clintons and really liked Bill, contends that Bill and Hillary share a business partnership rather than an emotional relationship. She said their arrangement gives her "the creeps." _____ The most interesting thing in the Ernie Oakleaf poll released by the University of Central Arkansas the other day was how the numbers on raising the severance tax on natural gas were driven by the wording of the question. Asked open-endedly about the general proposition, 29 percent were in favor and 37 percent were opposed. Asked, then, if their opinion changed if told that the tax would be paid by corporations, 51 percent favored and 32 percent opposed. Asked, then, if their opinion changed if told the proceeds would go to state highways, county roads and city streets, those in favor jumped all the way to 66 percent. I wonder what the numbers would have been if the question had proffered that raising the severance tax might have the effect of lessening some royalty owners' payments and increasing, if only slightly, gas prices and utility bills. It's all about spin, I tell you. And the problem for our democracy is that too many people are too disengaged and uninformed to be unspinnable. Something between obsession and pliable detachment - that's what we need. _____ Perhaps you didn't catch the latest from a CNN analysis of the caucus and primary results from Texas. Hillary Clinton is still inaccurately called the winner by a mainstream media that have gone into the tank for her in an over-reaction to her tactical and strategic nonsense about how the media supposedly were in the tank for Barack Obama. Texas officials are still opening envelopes with results from the evening caucuses, and, in a few cases, the person in charge of the local caucus absconded with the official ledger and apparently will hang on to it until county conventions March 29. But CNN suggests this: By leading in the primary, Hillary went up four delegates. But Obama appears to have gained nine delegates in the caucuses, putting him up five overall. CNN also throws in some super-delegate leanings in Texas to suggest Obama may come out of Texas up by three delegates overall. Hillary won Texas the same way Al Gore got elected president in 2000. _____ The New York Times chased down the 22-year-old Jersey girl who apparently was the thousand-dollar prostitute engaged with Eliot Spitzer. She comes from an abusive and broken home. She's been known by about a half-dozen names. She came to New York thinking she was going to be a star soul singer. That didn't happen. A boyfriend who was in a band heard her singing in the shower, and sold her a bill of goods. Now she's in court with an appointed lawyer trying to turn state's evidence against the proprietors of this prostitution ring. She's telling The New York Times that she hopes people don't think she's a monster. I'm not sure prostitution is a victimless crime. ------- John Brummett is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699. |
