Friday, June 08, 2007

Paris Hilton and Vladimir Putin Throw Temper Tantrums

This week we saw two examples of celebrity temper tantrums, one amusing, one scary. The sheriff probably wanted celebrity brat Paris Hilton out because she was pushing the medical button every few minutes and screaming and yelling in pain. While that doubtless was annoying, that's the kind of reason sheriffs and wardens invented solitary confinement.
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It's more likely the sheriff wanted her out because she would bring too much attention to the doubtless many dirty doings at the jail. And she was promising to write a book about her whole stay there.
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So all this breast beating about an unjust system may be just a little off base. The greater injustice is not necessarily that she got out early, but that most of the other women are there for victimless crimes like drugs and prostitution -- and that many probably are being abused there by poor conditions, guards, other prisoners.
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By the way, I'll be interested to see if there is a spike in visits to my sites for mentioning Paris Hilton, one of the two or three the most popular search terms on the planet!
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As for the other temper tantrum, as I write in the entry below, Russian President Vladmir Putin threw one over the U.S.'s plans to put anti-missile missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. These supposedly would protect Europe against Iran's ICBM's hurling nuclear bombs on Europe. Not that Iran has ICBMs, nuclear bombs or any reason to attack Europe. Putin, of course, sees this as one more U.S. attempt to surround Russia and make a U.S. nuclear first strike against Russia more likely.
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So Putin threatened to start targeting real nuclear ICBMs at Europe again. Bush was flabbergasted, tried to reassure Putin the U.S. wasn't really improving its first strike position, saying the missiles were "not something we should hyperventilate about." Then he chastised Putin for "restricting democracy" in Russia, just to make it clear that if the U.S. did decide to nuke Russia it had the moral high ground in doing so.
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And then Putin threw out a trump card: let's work together on a joint anti-missile program in Azerbaijan, right on Iran's border, on an existing military base. The Financial Times headline says it all: Putin calls US bluff with base offer. Bush and Putin actually met on Thursday, assumedly shook hands and held "crunch talks." Should we all breathe easier??
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See an
analysis by RadioFreeEurope of whether those bases would fulfill the need. Then do your own search for replies to that kind of "objective" source. Study up on your nuclear war theory, kids, it could save all our lives! Listening, Paris???

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