Honduras

By all odds, the Honduran fracas is just another falling out among banana thieves. Nothing much is going to happen beyond the range of the Tegucigalpa teevee cameras if you don't count leftist politicians straining and grunting to present the most populist image.*

So it's okay to play this one strictly for entertainment value, and to that end, TMR offers a Honduran resource.

Or if you happen to be female, maybe you can get the glands in action by summoning up a vision of a bare-chested Obama arm-linked to Hugo Chavez and Danny Ortega, marching on the Palacio as the chorus of thousands brings Guantanamera to crescendo.

If I had a serious bitch about this comic opera it would be against -- you guessed it -- wire services which kept leading their stories with soldiers ousting "the democratically elected president."

As a general matter I do not disapprove of democracy, but as an icon of righteousness it has its limits. I can't recall, for instance, any news items emphasizing that his political foes ousted a democratically elected Richard M. Nixon. Or that the Grand Alliance of 1941-1945 ousted the democratically elected leader of of the Third Reich.

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*Our President in Washington is not excepted, having missed another fine opportunity for silence.

Well I swan, y'all

Thanks to Roberta we have the very latest on QE2's swan upping. It's a Reuters report, natch, and the Queen's Own editors at one point feel obliged to tell us of "young cygnets."

I report all this mainly because I'm always looking for an excuse to use my favorite label.

Another serving of moonwalk tears

No one bearing four functioning neurons expected early abatement of the hair-pulling, shrieking, face-blackening national grief orgy on the electric teevee, but somehow I expected a little more from the mighty AP newspaper service which still contributes to my support.

The world's largest news operation believes, in this fourth day of Michael's enforced absence, that the most world's most vital story is cops interviewing his doctor.

The frogs disagree. AFP editors judge Janet's demand for autopsy redux as the supremely significant event of this news cycle.

Morbidity saturation alert

Two celebrities, both talented and very lucky, died within the past three days, and already the media are altering my consciousness of Farrah and Michael.

They and I had an excellent working relationship. I never thought about them, and they undoubtedly returned the courtesy. The increasing nausea I feel at the mentiion of either name is a media-driven event.

RIP, the both of you. (And between us, Farrah, I'll miss you quite a little more.)