In an impressive move toward downright Scandinavian Honesty, Argentina moved--practically friggin' leapt--11 places in Transparency International annual honesty/corruption rankings, released today. After years mired among the corrupt and unjust, Argentine has powered into gentrified respectibility. Once the land of the two-bit bribe--the coima--the country that bore Evita now can brag...

Okay, scratch that. Even the local papers couldn't spin the Transparency Int'l report. Clarin titled its article, "Corruption: Argentina improves, but still very low," and La Nacion came stright out and said, "Argentina: Among the countries with the greatest perception of corruption." With 2.8 points out of a possible ten on the honesty scale, it seems you don't make it far up the list of 159 countries. Argentina did rise 11 places--from 108th to 97th--which is nice, but still sort of like being the smartest retard.

Let's just say Club 97 ain't the swankest place. Fellow members include Algeria, Mozambique, Serbia and Montenegro, Madagascar and Malawi. If I recall, a good portion of those were involved civil war or crimes against humanity a few years ago (ah, the pride swells; we've really come a long way). At least there's something to aspire to: If Argentina works real hard, someday it could catch Rwanda--at spot 83.