the wall street journal correctly credits bloggers, specifically three bloggers working on dkos in the beginning, as the only folks in the world who made sure that the downing street memo got into the public consciousness:

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while trying madly to reach a million hits for our third blogiversary (yes! talkleft coined that phrase!) we stumbled upon a truly conservative blog called cynical nation .

now, by “truly” conservative, we don’t mean way more conservative than lgf (that would be nigh impossible). no, we mean “conservative” in the literal, old school definition of the term: wanting to conserve (budget, environment, values); a real-life libertarian, not a wannabe who likes shouting for the sake of shouting.

cynical nation, when we visited, was still reeling over the kelo v. big corporate greed (sup.ct. 2005) decision, a ruling which, to be quite honest, we ourselves found to be both reprehensible and unsurprising.

reprehensible because, of course, it sets precedents for governments and corporations to steal take private property from land owners under the guise of “eminent domain.” unsurprising, because, well, in our minds, who wouldn’t expect something from a political environment in which corporations and government are fusing all too much.

cynical nation points out that appointing administrations had little to do with the justices’ individual views:

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My, my, my, things sure have changed in the town I grew up in.

To add some perspective, North Falmouth is a rather puritan old town. But like most of Cape Cod, the smalltown atmosphere changes in the summer, when the urbanites from elsewhere in New England come flocking to clog the roads and beaches.

As a result, kids growing up there get exposed to the high-living ways of the (usually) wealthier tourists, a lifestyle that’s generally unsustainable the other 9 months of the year. To add some perspective to that, if a home rents for $1,000 per month in the winter, it will often rent for $1,000 per week in the summer. That annual boom/bust price cycle makes it a difficult place to afford to live, on non-union wages. I’ve always presumed this is true in most seasonal resort towns.

Add to that, the fairly puritan atmosphere that pervaded there in the 50s and 60s, and this article definitely displays how times have changed, as the alleged house of ill repute is within a mile and on the same street as the old Hayden home my folks sold in the 80s.

But I also found a nugget in the story that’s personally interesting:

‘’I've never seen any activity, except for people buying flowers,'’ said Holly Stone Perry, a North Falmouth resident who works at the North Falmouth Diner near Phillips’ home.

Holly Stone was a year younger than me. Her older brother, Andy, was a classmate who I believe is now a Massachusetts state trooper. Of course, I remember him when we were both at summer Boy Scout camp, and he was shoplifting booze from the nearby liquor store. It’s kind of interesting that Holly now works at the diner. She was always the studious one from a large Catholic family of 9 or 10 children, so it kinda surprises me she didn’t go further. But such is the curse of Cape Cod, where the allure of its ocean can overcome career aspirations of even the studious non-partiers.

But back to the sex-for hire story… when my brother sent it today, I replied to his email:

So these two gals were selling sex for money and one of them’s 49 and $250/hr was her rate? Geeze, talk about inflation!

I’m 52. At prices like that, perhaps I need to revalue my income potential and consider a career change.

-No S&M Boytoy Kevin

It might even exceed the lucrative field of blogging, a similar trade that requires some whoring while hidden behind flowers, and can be performed while naked in front of strangers.