When did we all get so freaking sensitive?

Scott Lee Cohen, the freshly-minted Democratic nominee for Illinois Lt. Governor, is refusing to step down. He doesn't feel that the 2005 arrest for assaulting his girlfriend, or a prostitute, or his prostitute/girlfriend (it's getting confusing) is reason for moving aside.

I don't know how we're going to get him off the ticket, or even if we can, so right now it looks like Democrats will lose both a Senate seat and the Governor's Mansion here in Illinois.

The newspapers are full of stories about Mr. Cohen's indiscretions today -- Thursday, two full days after the election. It would have been nice if they had run these stories before we went to the polls.

We've been down this road together before, she & I

Babs and me.

I first discovered her when I was in high school. The 1970s. After the Beatles had broken up and the world was listening to disco and soft rock shit. I took refuge in the two classic albums I refer to as, "The Runs" (Band on the and Born to) and Streisand. Her music and her movies were a revelation to me.

Uncompromising in her art, always going her own way, tough and vulnerable and sincere, she was a terrific role model for me then ... and now.

I'm feeling isolated, misunderstood and overworked. I'm tired -- no, make that weary -- as I settle in to my 50s. Then I look at her. Oscars, Emmies, Grammies, Tonies, lifetime achievement awards and even a Peabody. Last year, with Love Is the Answer, at age 67 she not only outsold Mariah Carey (who released a CD the same day), she became the only artist to have a #1 album/CD in five different decades.

A troubled childhood and on-going family issues, divorce, broken romances, splintered relationships, failures along the way, bad press, bad reviews, "Shut up and sing" ... she survived it all. Perhaps because she keeps going. Learning from her mistakes (you can hear that hard-won wisdom in her songs), but ploughing ahead. Like an indomitable Energizer Bunny.

I've been listening to her a lot these past few days. I know I can count on her to help me through this rough patch.