VBVW for July 20, 2007:
Men Are Animals

• The Very Best

Killer/thief Pascal Payet escaped the French prison of Grasse by helicopter. French authorities have omelette on their face, especially since Payet was supposed to be under close guard after having escaped prison before. By helicopter. After years of hacks like David Blaine, it’s nice to see a real escape artist at work.

North Korea agreed to shut down all nuclear facilities in Pyongyang by year’s end, and on Saturday shut down its sole working reactor in a central nuclear complex. Skeptics still want verification that NK is not enriching uranium. If they play nice, the Koreans have been promised 1 million tons of energy aid.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is settling a clergy sex abuse suit for $660 million. The money will come from selling off of some assets, including buildings. Maybe it’s time for every religious organization to sell all the churches and give the money to the poor. Like Jesus would have wanted.

• The Very Worst

During seven years critical to the rise of popular megastore Whole Foods, the grocer’s chairman and CEO was anonymously stoking its success in financial chat rooms. From 1999 through 2006, John Mackey — under the screen name “rahodeb,” which is an anagram for his wife’s name — talked up his crunchy grocery stores on Yahoo! Inc.’s financial chat boards while dogging his competition.

Russia suspends a NATO treaty on arms control, prohibiting other countries from inspecting its arsenal. Shimon Peres is sworn in as Israeli prime minister, again. Britain tosses out Russian diplomats in a spy scandal. It’s the 1970s all over again, and the Cold War is back on.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has been indicted on running a dog-fighting business, and for torturing dogs to death that he deemed not fit to fight. Anyone who has lingering doubts that America’s professional sports teams are populated by thugs, cretins, morons, and subhumans hasn’t been paying attention.