We'll Always Hhve Paris

At the risk of allowing ads for her stupid reality show or her sex tape to run on the heading atop this page and giving her free publicity, I need to say a few words about Paris Hilton. More than a few, in fact.

I have been getting spam in my electronic mail box offering a copy of Paris Hilton's sex tape ad infinitum, ad nauseum. No matter how much I try to block this spam, I keep getting offers for that damn tape, from different e-mail addresses. Guess it's in the public domain. Getting an offer for a copy of the tape that made Paris Hilton infamous is like hearing a mosquito buzz in my ear; I swat it away, but I know I'm going to have to deal with it again later.

Mademoiselle Hilton, of course, is in a new Fox reality show in which she goes to Arkansas and lives on a farm with Lionel Richie's daughter, where the two have to work to earn their keep. The joke, of course, is that they're utterly clueless about how to live and work like ordinary people, and they keep screwing up. Because of the Hilton sex tape scandal, the show has gotten free publicity and big numbers of viewers. Apparently people like to laugh at a hotel heiress and the Motown Manilow's daughter, after having lived in the lap of luxury, having to fend for themselves and falling flat on their supposedly pretty faces.

Uh, fellas, could I have a word with you in my office? This show was taped a few months ago, and Ms. Hilton and Ms. Richie have long since returned to their wealth and privilege. At the end of the day, they're still rich, and you're still getting screwed by Bush's tax cuts for the rich. So who has the last laugh now?