According to political legend, Lyndon Baines Johnson, when in the depths of one of his Texas campaigns for the U.S. Senate, instructed his staff to spread a rumor that his opponent was, ah, “overly familiar” with pigs. “We’ll never prove that,” someone objected. “I don’t wanna prove it,” LBJ thundered. “I wanna hear that SOB deny it.”

That was then. Today, thanks to Al Gore, we have the Internet. Perhaps you’ve seen the Dick Cheney rumors floating around the list serves. It’s the same rumor I hear from my friends in DC. It claims George Bush has decided Mr. Cheney is a dead weight on the ticket, so the Republicans are preparing a phoney story about Cheney having heart trouble, which will allow Bush to ditch him in favor of Colin Powell or John McCain. “Don’t let them get away with it,” the e-mail says. “Pass this along to everyone you know and ruin their October surprise.”
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Are the Olympics not over yet? Can I locate the grave of P.T. Barnum and crush some sour grapes on his headstone? It was Mr. Barnum who said no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. He was right, too. Viewership of the games from Sydney is off, but everyone blames it on tape delay, not on the gallons of treacle that ooze from Bob Costas every time I turn on the set. I remember a time when there really were great stories at the Olympics – Olga Korbut, the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team – but now the network has everything so programmed in advance that an authentic, spontaneous, athletic moment can’t compete against the canned music and the sappy backstories.
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In the past few months, I’ve noticed the New York Times putting little tags on its stories. If the story is about the election, the tag might say “The Candidate” or “The Ad Wars.” Last week, on a story tagged “Enforcement,” the Times headline said, “CIA Is Said to Find Iraq Gives Contracts to Nations That Want to End Economic Sanctions.” With a headline that long, you wouldn’t think the story would need the “Enforcement” tag, too.

In the story below the meandering headline, it was reported that under a United Nations agreement, Iraq is allowed to sell a limited amount of oil and use the proceeds to buy food for its citizens. The Central Intelligence Agency has determined Iraq buys the bulk of oil-financed food from countries which favor ending economic sanctions against Iraq, particularly China, France and Russia.
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“Pro Bono Publico” means “for the public good” and in our age the phrase is used to describe work attorneys perform for free. The phrase is Latin, not as an attempt to put on airs, but because the concept of Pro Bono Publico dates to the Roman Republic, when citizens of wealth and standing were expected to expend some of their time and influence on behalf of the poor.

A few weeks ago, the New York Times reported law firms across the country are cutting back on pro bono services, for several reasons. First, lawyers are up to their ears in work already. The throbbing American economy has lawyers working overtime for paying customers. None of those young associates eager to make partner wants to report that while his peers were closing a multi-million dollar real estate deal, he spent a week helping a family of welfare recipients fight their landlord.
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