Damn, that's a great show innit?

It gives me such hope and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Someone should give Aaron Sorkin a medal for writing such beautiful work.

Of course it's biased to the Left. I don't care. It's done well. Moreover, it's done intelligently and pulls no punches when it covers Democratic-platform ideals that are dumb. So of course I can't wait to see how they handle a full-on Socialist/Labor/Green politician/candidate. And for a change (for Hollywood) fictional Republicans make some sense.

Josiah Bartlett is a wonderful character, and I don't just mean character-in-a-script-or-story sort of "character," I mean he is a character, he *has* character and is just an amazing character to behold. He has all the stature that a President should have but has enough character flaws that make him very believable. This is more than made up by his dedication to his job and country and hunger to make the world a better place. And the fact that his politics are in line with mine doesn't hurt. (It helps me to ignore that he's a Notre Dame fan.) And making it so that he is the most important character in the world (duh) while *not* being the central character on the show was a stroke of pure genious.

My most favorite of my favorite characters on that show (and they're all up there) is CJ Craig. Tonight Allison Jenney (I think?) probably earned her second (or is it third) Emmy nomination, and she better win again, too, darn it. CJ is the White House press secretary and much cuter than Ari Fleisher.

I don't quite know what to say about the episode tonight, except that if you saw it, you know what I mean, and if you didn't then you're probably not a fan and screw you anyway. };>

Among other things there was a possible case of the first US case of Mad Cow disease, a Woman's group in a fuss because a UN charter would prohibit sexual exploitation, including forced prostitution, the US finalized a deal with "Kumar," a fictional middle Eastern country, to extend the lease on a base in that country in exchange for several military armaments including vehicles, missles and jets.

All in a day's work right. Yup and extraordinarily dramatic work, too. The rest of this will probably read like a gossip column but if you haven't guessed I'm writing this because I feel like gushing.

The Mad Cow thing is bad. That's obvious because I could barely follow it so it'll probably get much worse for the next few episodes.

The others shouldn't be bad except for, as with a lot of nearly-done deals on the Hill someone doesn't like it the way it's written.

Why would a women's group decry a charter that would make forced prostitution illegal? The key word there is "forced" in the mire of a huge and very interesting subject. Of course, because the show highlights a lot of the bleeding heart aspect of policy the position was that all prostitution was forced and that having to prove that every single case was one of "forced prostitution." It pointed out that very, very few sex workers are actually thrilled to be in that trade and that for the overwhelming majority of women who provide these services, there is no profit to be made.

It, of course, didn't even try to find a scenario where women might actually want to trade her favors for money and it didn't even remotely acknowledge the sex industry that is legal - pornography. It didn't hit me until well after the show was over that the fine line between a prostitute and a porn star is the publicity and the money the video makes. Isn't it funny how everything comes back to money? Or is that just disgusting?

But I really like the woman who was arguing against the charter, I can't remember her name or that of her group but she very steadfastly held onto her position that would otherwise have been ignored if it weren't for one fact that stated: "We're not just half the constituency, we're the entire margin of victory." Hell ya. Policy that 100% affects women should have women sounding off on it, at the very least in the majority.

The bit with Kumar was fucking brilliant. The only description we got of it was that it was in the middle east. The words "fanatic," "Islam," and "moslem" were never uttered. All of the rest of the details had to be inferred from CJ's outrage and a few sundry details that sound like the Taliban at their most mild.

CJ is played with such stunning subtlety it makes me forget to breath. When CJ, who never loses her cool (not really, snapping at reporters who really have it coming is not quite the same as this) was totally losing it, shouting and near tears by the end of the show.

In exchange for extending the lease on a "strategic" base in Kumar the US was given a chance to forgo the $105 million tab in favor of military armaments. Kumar, apparently, is a country where it is a serious flaw to be female. Women who are raped are then beaten by their husbands and sons, etc. CJ commented that the only reason Kumari women are kept alive is to make more Kumari men. Who wasn't thinking that when all eyes turned to Afghanistan? CJ's position was the base was more a matter of convenience, and with the other bases we keep on the Saudi Penninsula, I have to agree (though I don't make policy and don't know the first thing about military strategy, but it feels right). So we were trading our convenience for the continued subjugation and oppression of half of the people of Kumar. As she said, "Thank God we didn't need to refuel in Johannasburg," or pressumably apartheid would still be alive and well.

The last minute of the show had CJ visibly willing herself to be calm after nearly breaking down outside the West wing press room, then stepping through the door and playing "jovial" for her daily press conference.

Oh, yeah. And the token black guy - Charlie. Just awesome. Just awesome.