Paraphrasin' around

Unlike many in these murky sewer-like parts of the internet, your very humble junior host has a lot of time for NYT columnist Maureen Dowd. Do not get me wrong, her columns have long lost any sense of zip, punch and wit which marked that space's ascendancy, but there is still something about l'bohème which still sparks an interest.

That being said, another poor effort yesterday at prodnosing the great unwashed on the great civility and decorum which is was the capitol of the United States, Washington, DC:

When House Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, reprimanded the congressman on Tuesday evening for refusing to apologize to his colleagues for breaking the rules, it was quite a wonderful way to improve America.

It was a rare triumph for civility in a country that seems to have lost all sense of it — from music arenas to tennis courts to political gatherings to hallowed halls — and a ratification of an institution that has relied on strict codes of conduct for two centuries to prevent a breakdown of order.

And so on it goes bemoaning the breakdown of civility in the US. This particular portion set my mind thinking:

But partly due to the Internet, the standards of behavior in this new country are terrible.

But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken addendum in the air: But partly due to the Internet, the standards of behavior in this new country are terrible. So unlike when we called the shots and determined what is and what is not news.

Our betters just do not get it, that country is gone.