Chandra Levy, the world's most famous federal Bureau of Prisons intern, is missing and presumed dead. Let's face it: the chances that she will someday emerge as a cloistered nun in Lima, Peru are rather slim. A person missing for six weeks is either dead, or wants very much to disappear.

Meanwhile, interesting details are coming out about the life of congressman Gary Condit.

He just passed a polygraph test, but then so did Jack Ruby, who denied shooting Lee Harvey Oswald, even though his act was observed live on television by tens of millions of people. And, as of yet, the details of just what questions were posed to Condit have not been released.

We find that Condit had an active social life in Washington, and that his wife generally stayed back home in Ceres, California, only traveling east to visit him a couple of times a year. Interestingly, he was known to not carry a pager or cell phone, and could disappear for hours during the day, remaining incommunicado, until he returned to the office.

Here is my take:

Ms. Levy, all puffed up with her important new intern position, and sure that she is saving the world, is really bored with guys her own age. They're so immature. She gets to know a congressman. They become friends. Then, they become lovers. What an ego boost! No matter that he has a family back in California. His wife "doesn't understand him." Condit will soon leave his wife and marry her (or so goes the fantasy).

Meanwhile, Condit is having a fling. But, maybe Chandra starts making demands on him. She threatens to blow the whistle. Suddenly, this little affair is becoming way too high maintenance. What to do?

Condit has a heart-to-heart with Chandra, but it is now the clash of the titanic egos: Chandra with her delusional self-importance, and Condit having gotten quite accustomed to being catered to, after many years in D.C.

There can be no happy ending to this sordid tale. Chandra winds up dead, her body disposed of somewhere very deep in the Potomac, or hidden farther away from Washington. A cloud of suspicion covers Gary Condit, but it is only suspicion. He resigns from Congress. After a discreet interval, he divorces his wife, and gets on with the rest of his life.

50 years from now, skeletal remains are found somewhere, and the advanced techniques of the future yield a positive ID of Ms. Chandra Levy. Far too little, far too late.

And, 50 years from now, sad to say, predatory males will still be taking advantage of delusional young women.

But surely, this is a small price to pay for the privilege of living in enlightened times, where adultery is no big deal, truth hardly matters, everyone is a victim, and if it feels good, do it!

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