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The lawman and the lap dancer

September 23rd 2010 09:16

: The lawman and the lap dancer

Wyatt Earp would not be pleased

VYOOS EDITORIAL
Unemployment in the United States is close to 10 per cent, a disturbing level for a developed country, and is forecast to rise.

At this level, few people in the country are unaffected. Almost everyone will know someone, quite likely an extended family member, who has lost a job and is desperate for another one. Those who do have some assets may be watching them dissipate - the US dollar, the US sharemarket and property prices are all sliding.

When unemployment hits 10 per cent anywhere, there are hardship stories all around. For those with children and no job, the hardship can be better described as heartbreak.

One man who does have a secure job is William Nolan. He lives in Connecticut and is a state marshal. It's a position that means a lot in the US. Built on the legacy of romantic figures like Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickock, and with an unbroken history of service stretching back to 1789 when the office was created by the Judiciary Act passed by the first US Congress, it's a position of trust.

William Nolan must be a proud man, and one whose hand you'd be happy to shake.

Maybe not.

William Nolan went to work one day recently, and was given the duty of serving a tax warrant on Johnny Kraft, owner of a strip club. The tax warrant was for US$9,800. Nolan, it has been alleged, added 10 per cent to the amount, which was discovered when Kraft paid the bill directly to the city, rather than to Nolan.

Still at the club, having delivered the tax demand to Kraft, Nolan decided to wile away a work hour or two by availing himself of the pleasures of the premises. He hired himself a lap dancer.

Nolan this week appeared before a commission of inquiry, which found "probable cause" that he "unreasonably blurred the lines between professional and personal conduct''.

"I think it was a lack of judgment and I want to put on the record that I apologise to my wife and family and my 87-year-old mother," Nolan told the commissioners, reportedly through tears.

The commission recommended a disciplinary hearing.

If Nolan loses his job, let's hope his replacement appreciates the privilege the position brings.
middletownpress.com

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Human nature, North America, US, Vyoos Editorial

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Ricky Martin is a tabloid gay

April 3rd 2010 05:17

VYOOS EDITORIAL
The main news stories around the world on Monday, March 29, were the terrorist attacks on the Moscow subway, a surprise visit by the US president to Afghanistan, and the announcement by Ricky Martin that he is gay.

Most non-tabloid media rated the first two stories more important, but you wouldn't know it from the astonishment, applause, approbation, anger, angst and airheadedness with which the community greeted the third.

Why all the song and dance? Well, the strident reactions came mostly from America, where conservative, prurient, judgmental, religious conservatism is, like Sarah Palin's glasses, a fashion accessory. America is the world's biggest importer of eggshells, upon which the country's liberal-minded citizens walk.

Admittedly, Martin's announcement was itself less than robustly self-affirming. It came on his web site, as follows: "To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with. Enough is enough. This has to change."

Indirect diminution is not a concept that commonly confronts the fans (or foes) of pop stars, so we will try to clarify. The children to which Martin refers are his twin sons, Matteo and Valentino, who were born in August 2008. So what Ricky is saying is that having children made it clear to him that he was gay.

We hope that's clear.

Of course, Ricky could have said something like "I knew I was gay years ago" but, as his marketing advisers would have pointed out, there is little headline mileage in such banalities. Often, truth isn't sexy.

Also, you don't have the fun of teasing the religious right.

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