Current Affairs

Isn't the Internet wonderful for helping people build communities of common interests? I did a post a couple of days ago about young nudists cavorting in Vermont. It drew a comment from a woman in Oregon, who invited us all to enjoy the two legal nude beaches in that state. She also helpfully provided a link to the American Association for Nude Recreation Web site.

Some people are saying the gross overcoverage of the phony JonBenet suspect is the worst embarrassment for the press in recent memory. Worse than the Katrina incomeptence? Worse than the Valerie Plame non-story? Then, there is this, another strange lapse from one of the formerly great newspapers:

Now don't all you people feel guilty for chasing all the smokers outside?

A MAN was killed by a horrific explosion in a garden shed at his parents' home after popping outside for a smoke.

Investigators believe the 31-year-old victim was visiting relatives in Tyldesley, near Atherton, when he went out of the house to smoke a cigarette.

Well, for goodness sake. Any environmentalist in this country can tell you that the only way to combat the dwindling amount of landfill space is to recycle:

Tirana residents are trying to put off dying until the government and city officials end their row over space shortages in the Albanian capital's graveyards.

A brave citizen finds the courage to report a heinous crime:

A daily special at a Lincoln Square restaurant has triggered the first -- and only -- official complaint stemming from Chicago's controversial ban on foie gras.

A caller to the city's 311 non-emergency system complained that foie gras was being served over the weekend at Block 44, 4365 N. Lincoln. The restaurant is not refuting the claim.

While we wallowing in the "what went wrong with Katrina" reminiscences this week, let's not overlook the continuing debacle:

Some young people in Vermont seem to have discovered something other legal scholars have overlooked:

"I think most of Vermont wants Vermont to be nude," said Hannah Phillips, 15, who added that she has not disrobed. "People have a basic human right to be naked if they want to."

Where are the front-page stories, the TV reporters asking people how their lives have been affected, the calls from politicians for immediate action, the letters to the editor from the conspiracy theorists? Gasoline prices have dropped dramatically, even drastically, in the last couple of weeks.

Remember "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America"? Here's a project that's really ambitious -- "10,000 Reasons Civilization Is Doomed." There are only about 2,700 things on the list so far, but the Web community is invited to make additions. With that many annoying things listed, there are bound to be some we disagree with, but it's hard to argue with No. 1: Paris Hilton. I've stopped worrying about her, frankly. Even if she disappears, we'll get somebody else exactly like her. The culture demands it.

Better hurry. Only 117 shopping says left:

It's that special time of year again, when the first plush Santas, singing snow men and blown-glass Christmas ornaments begin to appear on store shelves.

[. . .]

Labor Day, Columbus Day and Halloween, much less Thanksgiving, are now mere speed bumps on the highway to Christmas, folded into the 115-day month of Septoctnocember.