Skanks

Lately, Britney Spears has taken to running the party circuit with hotel-heiress-with-no-discernable-job-skills Paris Hilton, no doubt letting off some presumedly obligatory steam following a divorce from her brief and pre-nupped-out-the-wazoo marriage to some guy whose name is not worth remembering at the moment. Judging from the photos of Britney getting out of the car, she has apparently decided not to wear undergarments beneath her skirt. A colleague of mine (who probably spent too many months at sea during his misspent youth in the Navy) has obtained these photos, which are spreading across the Internet like a rash. That they leave little to the imagination does not necessarily make them a near occasion of sin, since most people look better with their clothing on than off, especially when they are not posed in a very artistic manner (to say the least). That does not excuse a prolonged examination, which they did not get from this writer. (I'll have to hold out for the real thing, preferably when married, Deo volente.)

We should not be surprised by any of this. As today's video commentary by Michelle Malkin demonstrates, these Hollywood types are not above being vulgar in public, and we are not above glorifying them with our attention. One more reason to cease watching music award shows on television, inasmuch as it is no longer about the music. And the bad example that is set, like the dung heaped along with it, runs downhill from there. Our public schools allow young girls to dress like tramps, and more than a few weenie pastors allow young female lectors to wear their skirts halfway to... well, kingdom come. The desparate-to-be-hip major retailers give little choice for modesty in casual wear, as any set of jeans worthy of fashion must have a waistline that delves ever farther below the navel. This makes it difficult to keep a shirt tucked in, assuming the shirt is long enough to be tucked in at all, thus giving us all the occasional little peek. As if we cannot generate enough excitement in our lives.

Now I know there are alternatives out there, and if enough of you take time out from reading nothing but the usual A-list blogs, I would be eternally grateful if you would submit your links to these possibilities in the comments box. They will get the attention they deserve.

And yes, Mrs Malkin has some timely woman-to-woman advice for Britney, as only a "classy dame" like Malkin can do (as she did for women everywhere in a July 2004 speech entitled "Standing up to the 'Girls Gone Wild' culture"). And yes, it does involve Britney giving consideration (albeit for once in her life) to her two small children.

This week's tip of the Black Hat definitely goes to Michelle. Mabuhay!