Sex Transcends Party

The political parties like to focus on their differences, but we voters can see the things that unite them. Like spending. Republicans decried excessive government spending for decades and promised to rein it in, but once they got control of the White House and both Houses of Congress it became clear that they were even bigger spenders than the Democrats. The Democrats prefer to tax and spend, and the Republicans prefer to borrow and spend, but what they both like to do is spend, spend, spend, spend.

The other uniter is sex. Just when you might have been worried that Eliot Spitzer's sex-tainted resignation was tarring the Democrats, along comes a Republican to remind us that sex transcends party. Vito Fossella, Republican Congressman representing Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, has announced he won't seek re-election. Fossella, 43 years old, married, and with three kids -- three kids by his wife, that is -- turns out to have called on his mistress and mother of his other child for help when (oh, this is the best part) he was arrested for drunk driving.

It's almost too easy for snarky bloggers to make fun of these politicians. We can debate which is worse -- soliciting sex in bathrooms, patronizing prostitutes, or having an affair. But really, don't these people know that they live under a microscope? You might think their desire for re-election could tame their libidos at least a little.

Well, at least the ball is back in the Republican court. And really, what could promote family values more than having two families?

Commencement Day

It's time for our annual spring ritual -- sending our students out into the great big world. It's Commencement Day.

I'm prepared with my regalia as usual, although as usual slightly disappointed that Yale's regalia regulations require its graduates to wear a mortarboard. I always wanted one of those cool tams.

When I got my regalia, I thought about cutting loose and getting a tam anyway, cheeky rebel that I am. But just about that time, the head of the Navy, Admiral Michael Boorda, committed suicide after a reporter questioned whether he had worn a medal to which he was not entitled. I decided to stick with the mortarboard.

Also (to the considerable mirth of my Ph.D.'d girlfriend), we lowly J.D.s wear a master's hood (only 3.5 feet long) instead of a doctoral hood (4 feet long with side panels). And we don't get to wear a gold tassel. But that's OK -- I like my purple tassel.

Of course the other burning question is whether it is permissible to bring a book or other reading material on stage and read it surreptitiously while 500 students are getting their diplomas one by one. I'm in the "no" camp, but I can't deny that my mind wanders by the time the Gs and Hs are crossing the stage.

Congratulations to graduates and best wishes for the future.

No Appeasement

I got into a furious debate last night with someone who couldn't stop talking about how Barack Obama will destroy America. I was bearing his tirade patiently until he got to talking about how wrong the left-wing media was to jump on President Bush's righteous suggestion that those who advocate holding diplomatic talks with heads of nations we won't currently talk to, such as Iran and North Korea, are promoting appeasement.

Bush's comparison is inapt. The appeasement of Hitler by western powers -- to which Bush specifically compared suggestions that we talk to Iran or North Korea -- didn't consist of talking to Hitler; it consisted of giving him the Sudetenland and acquiescing in his other conquests. There's a big difference between holding diplomatic talks and giving in to territorial demands.

Diplomatic talks don't have to be weak. They can be tough too. We talked to the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. That didn't mean we appeased it.

I'm not expert enough to say whether holding talks with Iran or North Korea would work better than the current strategy -- although the current strategy does seem like a disaster. But I do know that calling anyone who disagrees with you an appeaser is cheap claptrap.

Big Surprise

The Washington Post is running a series on medical care in immigrant prisons: detention centers where the federal government is holding foreigners suspected of immigration violations. Guess what? The care is scandalously bad. People die in custody from health problems (83 in the last five years) or just get appalling care -- worse than dogs get at a dog pound, one nurse says.

I don't mean to make light of the Post's investigation -- the problem is scandalous, and the Post is doing a public service to report it. But what would anybody expect? Of course the health care in immigrant prisons is going to be the worst care in the country. The reason lies in simple political analysis.

There's a reason why the INS (before it became the ICE) was the most incompetent agency in the government. There's a reason why, as the Post reported way back in 1991, the line to get service at the INS office in Florida's Dade County was "the most infamous line in Florida," often requiring a wait of 12 hours just to get in the door, and sometimes stretching as much as 2 days.

The reason is: noncitizens can't vote. In a system run by elected politicians, the bloc of nonvoters is going to get the lowest priority. So of course the government agency tasked with providing services to noncitizens is going to be the worst agency there is. It's that simple.

And among citizens, which group has the least political clout? Prisoners.

So now imagine what kind of priority politicians are going to give to providing services to noncitizen prisoners.

The Post can run all the articles it wants. And it should. This is important journalism. But the situation is not going to improve.

Ah, Those Sex Scandals

Even in the final throes of grading, I can't resist taking a moment to call your attention to this.

OK, here's the question: which would be funnier (1) an admiral having illicit sex in the White House in 1990, or (2) his denying it with the words "I did not have sex with this woman"?

Almost There

Reached an important milestone -- made it through the last pile of exams. I'll still be crunching numbers and doing other grading stuff all weekend (and I still have four term papers to read), but it's a big moment. I was singing "Zip-a-dee-do-dah" as I started preparing the spreadsheet.

As bad as grading is -- and it's really bad -- it does have the redeeming aspect that the task is relatively clear. Most of a professor's life is a plunge into the unknown. In the most important part, scholarship, there is no clear goal, no easy way to tell what topic to take up next, no obvious set of tasks to do each day. Of course that's what makes the job so great, but it can also be daunting. So although grading is painful, particularly when you have 144 exams and have to grade 10 to 14 hours a day, day after day, it's refreshing to have such a clearly defined task to do for a change. I'm definitely not volunteering for more, but, with the exams safely shelved for another year, I can see some slight pleasure in knowing what I'm supposed to do.

Still Grading

Just in case you were wondering. There's nothing like a pile of 104 exams (I finished the 40 in my other class) to keep you in a grading daze. And then I also have four term papers. I should be done May 12. Blogging to resume thereafter.