Ay, El Paso

From the World's Worst Newspaper, an appalling list of local dignitaries run afoul of the law. List of people named in public corruption case. Go there and be amazed that any American city can have such a top-to-bottom culture of corruption. El Paso is like a city in Chihuahua where, occasionally, office holders are expected to hew to American standards of ethics. When I went to Chicago in 1969 from El Paso I was at first taken aback by the way things are done there, and then I understood: Chicago runs on Mexico rules. Anything could be sorted out with a mordida, a bit of baksheesh, some sugar. It offended; I expected better. These days I am less optimistic, or maybe less deluded.