Two and a half cheers among the locals here today. One big cheer for Bill Clinton, on the news that Laura Ling and Euna Lee are to be released by the North Korean Government, having been imprisoned since March 17, and sentenced in June to 12 years hard labour. As well as good news for the people concerned, this marks another stage in the redemption of Bill Clinton, who left office under the slimy weight of a load of Slick Willy stuff that was doing nobody any good, not him, nor the country. Former presidents married to secretaries of Statedo seem to reach the parts others can’t. I noticed some Yellow ribbons out on some streets in Chicago today.
For those requiring any other excuse to dance for joy int he streets today, cometh the news that two beluga whales at the Shedd aquarium here in Chicago are confirmed pregnant — Puiji (23) and Naya (21) are now looking forward to the joys of 14/16 months pregnant. That and no drinks or smokes...
Finally, a couple of baby boomers were telling me they were feeling slightly weirded out over the news that Squeaky Fromme will be out of jail soon. Paid up Baby Boomers will remember Squeaky as a member of the Manson Family. When I first visited the States almost 30 years ago, the local coroner had just published his memoirs of the Sharon Tate murder. It’s now 37 years since Charles Manson picked the young Lynette Fromme up on Venice Beach. After the Manson murders, she added the slightly abstruse crime of attempted presidential assassination, after taking a pop at Gerald Ford. She also jumped jail int he late eighties, and that added time to her sentence. Have a nice day!
