Polygamists Give Polygamy a Bad Name... Another Congressman Gets Screwed... CBS Shows It Can "Swing"

You just can't make this stuff up. (I know. I've tried.)

So as most of you probably know, last month authorities raided a polygamist sect in Eldorado, Texas, which has been making front-page news for weeks, for a variety of reasons. (One person I know is fascinated by the prairie-style dresses the women and children were wearing.) Now it comes out there are a number of other religious sects practicing polygamy, and they are nervous. Ya think?

Isn't polygamy illegal? And, perhaps, more importantly, where do these men (it's always men) find the time and energy for 21 wives? (Forget about the three dozen children some of these guys have.) Most men, or at least the ones I know or read about, have trouble keeping one wife and one mistress or "girlfriend" happy and/or satisfied. (And no, they are not the same thing.)

Speaking of which... I was sure that New York Congressman Vito Fossella (R), who was recently arrested for drunk driving (with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit) after running a red light in Alexandria, VA, would be resigning day (though technically the day is not over). Not because he violated the law, which he did, but because Rep. Fossella, a "family man" with a wife and three kiddies back in Staten Island, had been living in sin and fathered an illegitimate child, now three years of age, in Virginia -- a relationship that while abhorrent to many (though apparently not to his fellow Republicans) was not illegal as he was not married to the other woman. (That would have been bigamy, which supposedly is illegal, though it makes for good TV. Just ask the producers of "Big Love.")

For an amusing take on this story, I highly recommend Gail Collins' column on the subject -- great post-Mother's Day reading.

Meanwhile, in the midst of all this Sturm und Drang, CBS, in its infinite wisdom, announces its new show entitled "Swingtown," a "drama" that aims "to combine the raucous abandon of 'Boogie Nights,'... [a] tongue-in-cheek take on the 1970s porn industry, and the sweetness of 'The Wonder Years,'" according to the New York Times's Jacques Steinberg. Apparently, it is okay to make television shows about polygamy (see above) and wife-swapping and ménage à trois and orgies (especially if set in the long-ago, freewheeling, pre-AIDS 1970s, in suburban Chicago). Just remember, kids, it's only make believe!

The hypocrisy of our times is breathtaking, though sad to say, none of this surprises me.