As the World Spins

Over the course of just 24 hours the world seems to have righted itself.

At the start of the week, the Senate was moments away from passing an immigration bill that seemed to please only the Senate. Conservatives, in particular, were feeling particularly disenfranchised. No one seemed to be listening.

Then there was Paris Hilton. Yet another celebrity who managed to pull a quick one on society by turning a 45 day sentence into a three day sleep over.

In both cases the rule of law was having its nose rubbed in some rather smelly stuff.

This new so-called immigration bill used language very similar to the last edition, with promises that this time we'd actually enforce the law. Many wondered if it might be prudent to at least experiment with enforcing the current laws before we went to the extreme of replacing them.

Had a pollster asked me if the country was headed in the right direction, I would have said no.

And then the Earth rotated once more in the heavens and something changed. Within a 24 hour window, Harry Reid was forced to pull this pitiful excuse for a bill from the floor - and the world watched as Paris cried from the back seat of a squad car - on her way back to justice.

Maybe Jack Bauer was involved.

Outside the chambers Senators railed against their collective lack of stick-to-it-iveness. Senator Feinstein wondered why the Senate was unwilling to see things through. Others talked about how victory could be assured - if only we would allow more time. Words that sounded eerily like discussions on events in Iraq.

It's a shame some on the left are more passionate about legalizing illegal immigrants than they are about securing victory over folks who want to do us extreme harm.

Jerry Falwell died a couple of weeks ago, but the silent majority he called the Moral Majority stood up and made a bit of noise this week. Grass roots outrage was heard on both coasts. As a result, a judge in L.A. threw the book at a celebrity debutante, and politicians in D.C. bailed on a very bad bill in order to save their hides.

The immigration bill is dead. Paris is back in jail. Law and order seems to be taking hold after a bit of a vacation, and the country seems to headed in the right direction.

For this week at least.