HUMAN NATURE BEING THAT IT IS, THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT THAT HUMANS, UNLIKE ANIMALS, CAN MAKE MISTAKES AND RECOGNISE ERRORS within due course.

Witness New York Governor Elliot Spitzer acknowledging the substance of an item in The New York Times yesterday in which he was implicated in soliciting the services of a woman of easy virtue, and apologising for any embarrassment brought upon The Empire State and his family.

Which his political opponents responded to with this ultimatum: Either resign within 48 hours, or face impeachment proceedings before the New York Legislature.

But then again, expect Mrs. Warren's Profession to be out in full force in the Twin Cities coincident with the Republican National Convention after Labour Day; you may recall a recent news item which suggested that Republicans (conservatives in particular) are perhaps the best customers thereof. And consistent, come to think of it.

Not to mention the arrest of several prominent and powerful specimens of conservative Zealotry and True Belief there for consorting with known prostitutes ... as well as the Lindbergh Terminal Tap Dance which brought Sen. Larry Craig's career into tailspin.

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IN A RELATED VEIN ABOUT ERROR BEING A HUMAN CHARACTER TRAIT, Japanese tax police in Osaka arrested sisters Hatsue Shimizu and Yoshiko Ishii after discovering some ¥6 billion (about US$58 million/C$57.8 million/£28.9 million/€37.8 million/Rs2.35 billion/CHF59.66 million/A$62.75 million) in bank notes stashed away in cardboard boxes across ten locations in the Osaka region.

The whole being proceeds of inheritance from their father's estate, as died in 2004 and left ¥7.5 billion (about US$73 million/C$72.75 million/£36.35 million/€47.555 million/CHF75.102 million/Rs2.95 billion/A$79 million) between them, paying much less than the ¥2.86 billion (about US$28 million/C$27.8 million/£13.95 million/€18.25 million/CHF28.82 million/Rs1.131 billion/A$30.29 million) assessed for inheritance tax.

And yet the Zealots and True Believers of conservatism here in the "morally superior" United States want estate tax abolished in the name of "economic stimulation," but without offering alternative means to compensate for the ensuing loss of tax revenue (remember their hard-wired belief in low taxes=jobs=social stability, since discredited).

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STICKING TO THE SAME FLAWED EQUATION OF LOW TAXES=JOBS=SOCIAL STABILITY BEING AN ARTICLE OF FAITH, Minnesota Governor Pawlenty is invoking the majesty and authority of his office for potentially inapproriate purposes vis-a-vis the current state budget legislation.

As in using "public service" commercial message to call upon the "right-thinking" peoples of Minnesota (as in the poor, undereducated and easily-manipulate) to ask their DFL legislators in particular to vote against any budget proposals as translate into tax increases.

The reason? You guessed it: "Low taxes=jobs=social stability."

In effect, parroting the Club for Growth's ongoing patsy.

But then again, perhaps it was time to ask:

• whether some of the worst job losses, especially in recent months, have come from low-tax-rate states (especially such where keeping taxes all the lower is seen as a Sanctii Sanctorum towards jobs creation--especially so unskilled positions paying mininum wage or piecework-linked rates); and, conversely,
• whether some of the best jobs-creation numbers during much the same time period are from high-tax-rate states (especially so, again, with unskilled positions); and
• whether there exists an interconnexion between tax rates and unemployment numbers (even allowing for such who have exhausted all job-search options following prolonged unemployment and those unable to owing to circumstances outside their direct control, such as age, disability, mental disorders, caring for elderly or infants and local economic conditions).

I believe there is research online on these topics; just do a Google or two.

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YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD BY NOW ABOUT THAT ASSOCIATED PRESS STUDY WHICH FOUND WHERE THE DRINKING-WATER SUPPLIES OF SOME 43 MILLION AMERICANS were contaminate with old prescription and OTC medications as were flushed down the loo consistent with prevailing advice for so disposing.

Or so it turns out.

In any case, absent buyback programmes which pharmacies and health departments may have for taking outdated prescription medications, such can only be expected to remain a serious problem--especially when some of the meds flushed down the toilet and into local water supplies happen to include powerful antibiotics and prescription-only narcotics.

Too, there's also the fact of drug residues being passed in urine and no doubt likely to make its way into the water supply.

No doubt a dilemma which would vex even Throckmorton Gildersleeve in his role as Water Commissioner back in Summerfield, even with his being an ur-father for Leroy and Marjorie and the occasional battles of wits with Judge Hooker....