Words & Tricks

Pepper on McGreevey: Yet more government sexcapades

OK, so the government sexcapades continue as now-former New Jersey Governor McGreevey has some sexual skeletons in his closet, like being gay.

No wait, we knew that.

He likes dudes and had fun sexxxy times with his driver.

No wait, we knew he liked dudes, and his driver is a dude. so they had sex. OK.

He likes dudes and had fun sexxxy time with his driver and his wife.

Uh-huh. So, three consenting adults allegedly had fun, sexxxy times. He says so. She denies it.

It was in the privacy of his own home with other consenting adults. Allegedly. I tried to take a minute to see if it’s illegal in NJ, just in case. Then I though, honestly that would be a stupid law anyway. So, I don’t care. Plus, the hits that come up when you type “threesomes” and “New Jersey” into Google (250,000 of them) are not what I was looking for.

The Bottom Line

McGreevey is not Eliot Spitzer, which is where this is all coming from. Spitzer broke the law, a law which he busted other people for breaking. McGreevey likes to have fun with multiple partners simultaneously. Allegedly. These do not equate.

McGreevey Wasn’t an Openly Gay Governor

Also, I am bothered that they call mcgreevey the first openly gay governor. His situation is not a triumph over intolerance; it wasn’t proof that he could be elected on his platform and his stand on important issues, rather than with whom he spent his free time (ahem, without pay cash-money). He wasn’t open.

1. He hid it.
2. It came out.
3. He came out,
4. and then he resigned in shame.

This meant that his time being openly gay and his time as governor overlapped by, like, five minutes. That he had to hide it in order to get elected is everyone’s shame.

It’s All About Who You Bl-, er Know

Giving his boyfriend jobs (and I’m not talking about neither “hand” nor “blow”) is the kind of crony-ism that all politicians, as well as captains of industry, and corporations, and other places of employment, share. It’s usually about who you know, and by extension, to whom you’ve given a job (hand, or otherwise).

I am so done with Governors, their “scandals,” and their wives. She said no, let her have that. He’s not the governor anymore, so why bother?

I think I am going to call Governor Patterson the first openly legally blind governor in the country.

Pepper is a recent graduate of Sheboygan Conservatory of Music where she studied the accordion. She enjoys Horatio Caine/Grissom fic and old episodes of Designing Women. Since she has become unemployed, she’s got a lot of time to find stuff to be annoyed about.

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photo credit: maxintosh

Further Reading on Words & Tricks

• WT Update: Selection of Chris Pommier’s freelance clips online (0)
• Writers + Business Sense = Money (1)
• World Corruption: The United States Falls near the Middle (3)
• Pepper on Spitzer: Politi-cos and Politi-hos (0)
• New German monument to gays and lesbians killed in the Holocaust (0)

Money makes the world slow down

Let us, as E.B. White put it in a 1939 issue of Harper’s Magazine, “take a ride on the Futurama.”

According to Jeremy Grantham at Barron’.com we’re going to be knee-deep in bad debt, recession woes and a slow deflation of global financial markets until 2010. Our great-great-grandkids will be paying our mortgages long after we’re gone. Also, the long flight to the suburbs that started in the 40s will reverse. Currently affluent planned communities overflowing with McMansions will become slums and fall into poverty, crime and decay as populations who can afford to move back into the cities.

In my opinion, this all lends weight to Naomi Klein’s view that we’ve been hoodwinked by George Bush’s “ownership society,” doesn’t it? According to Klein, we’ve been fooled by a Thatcheresque switcheroo meant to lull us into a false sense of security, and put votes into Republican pockets by, among other things, looking the other way as risky loans were made to more and more people hoping to participate in the breezy free-for-all of homeownership.

Pop.

Well, maybe there’s some good news, or at least news that is less bad for Minnesota than much of the rest of the nation. Only .83 percent of Twin Cities area houses were in foreclosure in 2007.

Then again, maybe this has all happened before. Eighteen times before.

Further Reading on Words & Tricks

• Writers + Business Sense = Money (1)
• Pepper on Spitzer: Politi-cos and Politi-hos (0)
• Pepper on McGreevey: Yet more government sexcapades (0)
• Opinion: Application of Humanitarian Law Not Enough to Address Global Violence (3)
• Craig’s (anti-capital) list (1)

Craig’s (anti-capital) list

Further Reading on Words & Tricks

• Writers + Business Sense = Money (1)
• Pepper on McGreevey: Yet more government sexcapades (0)
• Money makes the world slow down (0)
• Latest Links: Minimum Wage (2)

Writers + Business Sense = Money

I had an experience with a editor recently that really opened my eyes to how important it is for writers to be able to talk about money. Simply put: he offered to pay me $50 for a 650-700 word article. I said that was great, but could he possibly make it $75? When he didn’t answer for a couple days, I was sure that I’d lost the job.

When he finally did answer, he said, let’s start with 50. That was fine by me, after all I still had the job! So, I wrote the article, edited it, and made sure it was the best I could do. I turned it in right on schedule. He was so happy with the product and my professionalism, he sent me the $75 I asked for!

It may not seem like much, but it was a powerful lesson for me. A fearless attitude coupled with dependability and a well-written article can increase your bottom line.

Now, go forth and haggle!

This entry was posted as a response to a post at the Golden Pencil on a similar topic. And the blog Words on the Page wrote on this subject too.

Further Reading on Words & Tricks

• Pepper on McGreevey: Yet more government sexcapades (0)
• Money makes the world slow down (0)
• Craig’s (anti-capital) list (1)