Chiz, chiz

Shirly Chisholm, the original Brooklyn anti-boss firestarter, has passed away, and you can read the Times obituary, if you're registered, and all that.

We first heard of Shirley in St Hunter's book on the 1972 election. He pretty much wrote off her chances back then, much as Shirley did, which is not to say that the parallels between the 72 and 2004 elections, as well as Thompson's style don't make for great reading.

And we note the point that Brooklyn was a vast and corrupt pool of cheap democratic votes back when Park Slope was an edgy real estate play. So Shirley's sh*tkicking style is something that all fans of insurgent Brooklyn politicians can appreciate. Whether we can expect the same of Tish is not yet apparent.

And please don't think that we're trying to ignore the appalling deaths of fifty times as many people as were murdered on 9-11. The tsunami and its death toll is something we lack the capacity to understand. To focus on the small numbers of affected tourists is equally difficult, although we have heard of friends of friends who are missing - and our thoughts are with them.

In the meantime, please donate to the US or UK Red Cross. We have a relative working at the latter who says that they're working flat out, so there's our pick.