I should also mention that each of the afore-referenced people who get or are going to get theirs, are in total and complete denial about the results of their actions. Tony is contemptuous of his therapist, rejecting any suggestion that his criminal lifestyle could be the cause of his current predicament. He blames his mother. He blames his wife. He blames...God knows. But he never looks in the mirror.

Paris Hilton blames her publicist, the system, and sobs how "it's not right" and cries out for Mommy (who clearly enables her) as she's dragged off to the pokey. It never even occurs to her that her own self-centered behavior is what got her into her present fix.

George W. Bush's comeuppance came during the 2006 elections. He's going to need several more of these, I suspect. But...he continues to scoff at any notion that his party's and his political losses are the backlash of policies that were NEVER, EVER GOING TO WORK. Such colossal denial approaches delusional thinking in Bush's case. Greater by several orders of magnitude, actually. Tony Soprano is a dull-witted thug who has no business being anything other than cheap muscle, certainly not a mob captain. Paris Hilton is shallow and clueless. But you'd be hard pressed to find anybody as willfully, defiantly, and arrogantly ignorant as our "Commander Guy". That's what makes him particularly dangerous. He's just quite simply, insane.

Bloody HELL...

Surely there is more to fixate on than some nubile young woman's top with the phrase "Kitty Not Happy" pasted across. I'd have probably had a laugh with her and moved on. It would seem that the Gen-X or Y crowd (I get the letters confused; must be getting old) of young women are more confident and therefore more bold in expressing their sexuality than their older counterparts (which would be...US!) for good or ill. On the one hand, it's possibly cool that women feel more comfortable with their bodies. On the other hand, with 60% of the population overweight or obese, you might question the sanity of walking around dressed like an elephant in a tutu. But I digress. The point is, if some girl's top gets you all in a lather, you got too much time on your hands. And as for the comment made somewhere here about "modesty" in front of "married men", give me a break. Do you actually believe that men who are inclined to stray are much bothered by that? Instead of fixating on false "virtues" like the length of a woman's skirt, or how tight her top is, why not ask the more relevant question: what are you not happy with in your own life that meaningless sex with someone you care nothing about will fix? Or, more relevant to this discussion, what outdated, barbaric morality do you subscribe to that makes it OK to slap a woman for being attractive in front of other men? How insecure do you need to be to do that? And again, I must ask; why is our definition of "morality" directed solely at women and sex?

Some here may not see the connection in the culture between Paris Hilton and the shallowness of our political and cultural debate.

To me it's all too plain. From the White House to the jailhouse, it's all of a piece. Rich, slacker ne'er-do-wells or in this case, ne'er-do-anythings are getting all the media focus and a whole lot of ink for being the brain dead (Paris), incompetent (Our fearless leader), and wholly irresponsible (Rummy, Rice, Pace, et al) people they've always been. Add to which a media culture that worships and waits on every utterance from their mouths, every twisted malapropism, every misstatement, every crass, tasteless comment, every crotch shot, or wardrobe...what the hell do they call it? Malfunction that gives a sneak peek at an areola, and you have the perfect soup of filth that tops only the nation's addiction to junk food for good tasting, but bad for you confections. It's insulting to call any of this a guilty pleasure. It's actually farther beneath us than the most sophmoric Brothers Farrelly film. But we keep coming back to the trough for more. We have devolved into a kakistocracy on nearly every level, and we're only now waking up to the fact. God deliver us from this insanity!

About 17 years ago, the band Queensryche recorded a song about a tour stop in Paris, France where everything went wrong that could go wrong. Given the band's penchant for brooding, progressive metal, the song seemed rather out of character and quite a bit funny. It was called "Last Time In Paris". I'm quite sure Geoff Tate and the boys now groan at the irony of the chorus:

Last time in Paris,

Last time in Paris,

Last time in Paris was STRANGE.

It's Paris Hilton's world. We're all just living in it.

Time to wake up.

A new Hilton hotel just opened up in Worcester, MA of all places.

It's as far away from Paris' reality as one could hope to be, and it's a safe bet she won't be visiting anytime soon. Thank God.