I was greeted this morning by full color, above the fold, center column photos of Hewlett Packard’s former Chairwoman, Patricia Dunn in both the N Y Times and the S F Chronicle.

What the Eff? This was a shock to my system. It even saved me that second cup of coffee.

Spying and standard tough-guy detective work, celebrated by small-boy hackers everywhere, when used on a dozen mighty monied pooh-bahs in the corporate world is worth a Congressional Hearing and front page treatment?

I don’t mean to say I don’t think it’s wrong. But is it wrong above all the other things happening today? Does it have implications for millions of the rest of us? Will such spying be disallowed and yet all the Patriot Act warrentless spying be celebrated in history and patriotic song?

What happend, for example, to the congressional report of the breadth and depth of Abramoff’s contacts in the White House? Any photos of Ken Mehlman, Chairman of the GOP, front page and center?

Why doesn’t a congressional report with e-mail details of direct quid-pro-quo between Abramoff money and Ken Mehlman (then in the White House) intervention with the Department of Justice to release congressional earmarks for an Abramoff client get such coverage?

Why doesn’t the absolutely appalling malfeasance of US contracting companies in Iraq — also the subject of Congressional Hearings, get such front paginess? Sure you can find it on page 16 of the Times: 13 of 14 projects were substandard! Give us some front page color pictures of the shit dripping through the ceiling in one of them, and the porcine faces of those responsible. You could start with the President’s.