Dark Bilious Vapors

Mike Hollihan is a bit perturbed that I've not mentioned the recent indictment of Senator Ford. Well, Mike's a good man (though a bit, um, obsessed in some areas, but aren't we all?), and I hate to disappoint him. I also hate to disappoint a few other commenters (Kev ("Nothing to say on the whole scandal in the TN legislature?") and btb ( What a travisty.. you can not even mention the horrid crimes in our state... You are a sad example of what it means to lean so far left that you can't act with dignity")). I don't know exactly what the implication of these comments are, but Some People seem to think that an explanation for my silence in L'affaire Ford is required....

However, Mike's also a regular reader here, and he should know the following (but I'll be happy to remind him):

1) As readers of earlier posts know, my partner in crime here, Karen, has traveled down from the frozen wastes of Dennis Hastert Country to make Brock's and my acquaintance. I'm sure that regular readers have noticed that posting volume around these parts has gone way down the past few days. That's because I've been taking great swaths of what life I have and using them to entertain Karen (who doesn't know anyone in Memphis besides Brock and myself--or, at least, she didn't know anyone in Memphis before Wednesday night; now she's met Dr. Abby, both Rachels, Eric Janssen, Mark Richens, E.J., and Trisha). I've also been using that time in the related activity of familiarizing myself with a few places and aspects of the city that I migrated to 4 years ago that I'd not bothered to acquaint myself with, not to mention that we had two Memphis Redbirds games to attend this weekend. Reading the local newspapers is a pretty low priority for me (when I'm not doing the bi-weekly Memphis news review I don't read the Memphis papers much at all) when I'm not this busy, and I don't watch TV news of any kind (local or national). I first became aware that Ford was indicted on Friday about noon, as Karen and I were walking to Sawaddii Thai Restaurant on Union downtown to meet Brock for lunch and we saw the big STUNG! headline in the Commercial Appeal. Shortly thereafter, I took the liberty of asking an acquaintance in the Memphis legal community if I was reading the headline correctly, and if Ford had been indicted, and received confirmation of that fact. Beyond chuckling a bit to myself, and wondering what took the authorities so long to catch up to the bastard, I really had no further concern with the story, as I had more pressing issues (like keeping my guest amused).

2) As I've said on a number of occasions, I do not consider myself a Memphian. I am a St. Louisan in exile. As I mentioned earlier, I don't read the Memphis papers much, nor do I watch local TV news or listen to local radio at all (all the radio listening I do is pretty much XM Satellite Radio). I do read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website fairly religiously, though I don't pay close attention to St. Louis area or Missouri state politics since I'm not there on the scene anymore. Tennessee state politics, Shelby County politics, and Memphis city politics are utterly of no interest to me. Furthermore I don't vote for any Tennessee state, Shelby County, or City of Memphis elected officials, since all the officeholders here, and all the candidates from both parties seeking to replace them, are pretty much clowns and idiots who I wouldn't vote for if they were the last candidates on Earth, much less around here. Therefore, beyond the entertainment I've derived from mentioning the John Ford Follies in some of the Memphis news reviews and another couple odd posts I've done, he's really not a big concern to me, just as Tennessee state politics, Shelby County politics, or Memphis city politics aren't a big concern to me, either (frankly, besides The John Ford Follies I don't recall blogging any Tennessee state or Memphis/Shelby County issues in a while, if at all; they are certainly not the major focus of this blog). And for that matter, corruption in local government doesn't concern me much either. I lived for about three and a half years in Chicago, and I know from that experience that the locals have a lot to learn about corruption.

I have no brief for or against John Ford. He's a corrupt SOB, but he's so incompetent and ridiculous in his corruption (for example, his child support case claim that he has one household in two separate houses is, I believe, an all time classic) that he provides first class entertainment for anyone who pays attention to his behavior. If he goes up the river, things will be a lot less entertaining around here.

But guys, I have a life, and I have my interests. John Ford's pissant corruption case isn't part of them.

Len on 05.28.05 @ 11:36 PM CST