Post-Victory navel gazing ensues...

There isn’t anything new to be said about the diminishing returns of investigative journalism, but I promised my esteemed mechanical friend some in depth analysis of the Nation-related events of yesterday, so here goes.

Public statement to the contrary aside, Ayelish McGarvey’s expose of David Hager’s appalling actions clearly led to his departure from the FDA advisory board, so my esteemed employer/exploiter gets to take some credit for it, credit I take a smidgeon of. How long has it been since journalism has actually done something? I’m not sure either, but lets rattle off a few things that have happened in the last four years-unprecedented corporate access to the administration, corporate scandals, illegal wars, torture, civil right abuses, slashed funding for essential development programs, huge chunks of the world hate us. These stories have been covered, some seemingly ad nauseum(although that could be the fact that none of the reports on these issues include any real reporting), but Alberto Gonzales is still the AG, Bolton will still be confirmed, we’ll stay in Iraq, and Bush’s judicial nominees will continue to be unqualified and bonkers. Would it have been nice to see a Nation article take down one of the big fish? Obviously yes, but at this point I’ll take whatever victory I can get, especially when it’s a victory over a hypocritical rapist with influence over women’s health issues.

Something has been stirring in my brain, something that could be called consternation. Why, you ask, would I feel bad when good has come? This is another obvious and played out line of thought, but does it bother anyone else that it’s still the case that when it comes to massive policy fuck ups and crimes against humanity, no one wants to hear about it, but when deviant sexual practices are revealed, it’s the kiss of death? Sure, one could say that Hager’s gone because he wants to keep this as quiet as possible, that he would have been ousted after more stuff on this memo was revealed, but at some point I think our little country is going to have to go into some serious sex therapy. Who else is mad about this?