Ars Gratia Artis

Here's some depressing news: the nomination of Sarah "Caribou Barbie" Palin as a vice-presidential candidate notwithstanding, even when it comes to political pandering to the lowest common denominator, the good ol' U.S. of A. is falling behind the developing world.

For example: according to Agence France Presse (and who am I to say them nay?), Indonesian political parties have taken to bypassing even the pretense of boring old things like issues, platforms, and policies, and just started to go ahead and nominate celebrities and models without even a reaganische veneer of prior experience or, it seems, the slightest aptitude for anything but what is said to be "the common touch." Locally, such candidates are known, it seems with a mixture of condescenion and admiration, as "artis".

Here's one such candidate, male model Adrian Maulana:


I suppose I can see the appeal in the shot above, but is he really parliamentary material?

The following image, I'm sure, will banish any doubt that may linger:

I don't know about you, but - not to wax vulgar - I'd stuff that ballot box any day.