Congresscritter Alan Grayson has apologized for calling a lobbyist a whore. He should have apologized and he needs to use the proper terms in the relationship among the groups that hire lobbyists, the lobbyists, and the public officials who are lobbied.

Simply put, the groups are “johns”, they are the ones paying for the “services”. The lobbyists are “pimps”, they arrange for the “services” to be provided. It is the public officials who are “whores”.

Grayson would know that if he had worked in the criminal courts, instead of the civil side.

From Elayne to PZ to the British Daily Telegraph The Top Ten Internet Laws.

When you have hung around as long as I have you adopt the attitude of Mustrum Ridcully – they’re not really laws, more like suggestions.

Most people don’t know this, but there have been large protests targeting bankers in Chicago. The large “news” sites have stories about the American Banking Association conference in Chicago, but they don’t seem to be aware of the thousands of people protesting.

I saw a note at another blog, DeRosaWorld, and went out to find out about it, but the Guardian in Britain seems to be the largest news site interested.

The Chicago papers are carrying the story, and the LA Times picked it up from the Chicago Tribune, but none of the largest media sites have anything to say about it. It’s kind of weird, since there are angry people with signs, and they have burned effigies, which is always a good visual for a report, but the companies that supply Americans with their news, apparently don’t know it is happening.

I guess their trucks haven’t made it back from covering that important story about the little boy in a home-made balloon, and other stories of vital interest to the people.

In case there was any doubt about how totally out of touch the bankers are, they don’t think they had anything to do with the global meltdown, and think they are the best hope for ending the GOPression. Instead of a conference, maybe they should consider creating Bankers Anonymous. Of course, that requires them to admit they have a problem.