Sunday, June 19, 2011

Spidey Sense

"Spidey sense: Derived from the "Spidey sense" of the comic book superhero Spiderman, it is generally used to mean a vague but strong sense of something being wrong, dangerous, suspicious, a security situation."

No. 1 son and his partner were on patrol recently when they spotted a car that caused their spines to tingle. It was, my child said, the "Spidey sense" that prompted them to pull the vehicle over on grounds of something illegally hanging from the rear view mirror (a legitimate reason to stop a car in DC).

The driver jumped out of the car and my son and his partner smelled gasoline on him and his passenger. When they sought permission to search the car, the driver agreed. Lo and behold,they discovered a gun hidden beneath the seat and it was off to jail. It was not long before No. 1 and his partner learned the men had killed a man and tried to burn his body in the adjoining county just 30 minutes prior to the traffic stop.

So in this case, “Spidey sense” helped solve a murder. This type of intuition could be extremely beneficial to all of us, don't you think? I am hoping it's helping No. 2 son to be careful in the swamp, which was important when a rattlesnake appeared at his archaeology dig site last week.

Imagine what would not have happened had former New York Congressman Andrew Weiner had a “Spidey sense” that sending photos of his bulging underwear (and more) could lead to a different reaction than he was seeking.

Surely I'm not the only one becoming weary of learning the sexual proclivities of politicians. I also worry that these kinds of news events cause men to imitate this unsavory behavior, thinking they're smarter and won't get caught. Someone recently asked me why anyone would think a woman would want to receive such a photo. I noted that it's not unlike some women believing men want photos of them in their underwear (or less). Equal rights and all that, you know?

What really, really irritated me about this sordid incident was hearing people ask why a man with such a beautiful and exceptionally intelligent wife would do something like that.

Do people really believe this kind of behavior is more understandable if a wife has average looks and intelligence, or that it might be acceptable if she's stupid and ugly? Is being beautiful and smart all it takes to be an ideal marriage partner? If that's the case, there are a lot of less-than-ideal spouses out there.

But I don't think the Weiner jerk's juvenile and creepy behavior had anything to do with his wife. I believe it everything to do with his ego, arrogance and sexual fantasies. My Spidey sense indicates this isn't the last of the salacious stories we're going to hear about this guy, either.

Do you believe in Spidey sense? Did you have a Spidey sense there was a dire reason this blog hasn't been updated recently? I assure you no scandals are involved.

But seeing as how only one person has asked why it hasn't been updated, perhaps not everyone is interested in my thoughts as I am in sharing them. For that reason, but mostly because I would like to finish a novel before I die, I'm taking a summer vacation from the blogosphere -- unless something so outrageous or exciting occurs that I feel compelled to share it, Spidey sense or not!