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The jury has been in on unfunny and poorly drawn for years now.
Your correspondent will be spending two tedium-filled days and nights and two hopefully fun-filled days and nights in Los Angeles, California at the end of this week. I'm hoping to wangle an invite to one of those cocaine- and anti-Americanism-fueled Hollywood sex orgies that would make Michael Medved soil himself with jealously. (You can address those to the upper e-mail address on your immediate right.)
In the unlikely event that invitation falls through, I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions for outdoor recreation (mainly hiking), moderately-priced restaurants and clubs and other disvertissements, debauched or otherwise, in the Los Angeles area.
Update (6/9): Changed the title, but it's not any better. Update II: Slightly less bad. Okay, that's the last one.
The Moonie Times tries, unsucessfully, to rehabilitate the good terrorist-lovin' folk of rural North Carolina.
"[Our] town has been misinterpreted," said Missy Benham, executive director of the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce.
"I would hate to think that someone would pick your city or New York City or any community and pick one extremist and try to label the entire community on that one person, whatever that person's values were," she said.
Some reports, particularly one in the June 2nd editions of the New York Times, played up the fact that a local restaurateur in Cherokee County had changed the sign in front of her diner to read: "Pray for Eric Rudolph."
"That woman only moved to our community three months ago," Ms. Benham said. "Her sign was taken out of context. ... What [she] was trying to say is to pray for [Rudolph�s] soul and his family and not that she was in support of what he did."
Here's part of the NYT article:
Betty Howard made many people happy today, and it was not for her daily special. Around noon, Mrs. Howard walked outside, glanced up at the sign in front of her diner and decided to change the lettering on the marquee from ''Roast Turkey Baked Ham'' to ''Pray for Eric Rudolph.''
''Bless his heart,'' Mrs. Howard said. ''Eric needs our help.''
Mrs. Howard said she was going to start an Eric Rudolph legal defense fund. Many customers have already said they would chip in.
Well, bless Missy's heart, but it appears she's jes' funnin' with us. I wonder how many of the local yokels pledged their funds to the Muhammed/Malvo legal defense fund (bless their sharpshoot'n hearts). Maybe they can mumble a few words for Alice Hawthorne's daughter after they pass the collection plate for Eric.
At The Howler, Bob Somerby reminds us, in a single sentence, why the Indpendent Counsel's investigations of President Clinton were never about either perjury or "the rule of law":
"(Ray report: �Following Willey�s acknowledgment of the lie, the Independent Counsel agreed not to prosecute her for false statements in this regard.�)
Indpendent Counsels Starr and Ray routinely immunized the likes of Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick, and Linda Tripp against prosecution for crimes identical to or great than the perjury charge against President Clinton. These officers of the court had no qualms whatsoever about letting these individuals escape any responsibility for their alleged criminal conduct. By it's own conduct, the Independent Counsel's Office showed that it cared nothing about the rule of law or the sanctity of truth.
According to the Sully Standard of Journalism, if you fail to quote a source in full and thereby distort the speaker/writer's meaning, you're a "fabulist." Let's test Sully against his own standard.
Sully writes in the London Sunday Times (Warning: Freeper link; Rupert can sue those assholes instead of me):
What [Senator Hillary Clinton] cannot do is run for president as the partner in an open marriage designed entirely for political ends. Americans simply cannot accept that kind of arrangement in their head of state. Unless she disproves that impression, she is finished.
The trouble, of course, is that the impression is largely true. Even the left-liberal New York Times couldn't disguise this fact in a story this week about the Clintons' still-evolving relationship: "For much of the last two years," The Times reported, "the Clintons have been acting as independent operators. They have a home in Chappaqua, New York, and a home in Washington. Mrs. Clinton spends every weekend in New York, where Mr. Clinton spends most of his time when not traveling. They are much more apt to be seen traveling individually, rather than as a couple. Sylvia Woods, owner of Sylvia's Restaurant, near Mr. Clinton's office in Harlem, said the former president rarely came to her restaurant, though Mrs. Clinton regularly turned up. 'I need to talk to them about that,' Ms. Woods said. 'They need to come in together sometime.' Similarly, in Chappaqua, solo appearances by the two Clintons appear to be the norm. Residents said they often saw Mr. Clinton walking around town with his dog, chatting with neighbors or dining in delis and restaurants. 'I see him quite a bit,' said Kirk Sprenger, who owns a wine shop in Chappaqua. 'He walks through downtown with his dog, stops in at Starbucks for coffee.' Asked if he ever saw the Clintons together, Mr. Sprenger quickly said: 'Never. Oh no, I have never seen them together.'" Of course there's nothing wrong as such with that kind of distant, open marriage. If that's the way the Clintons want to set up their relationship, it's their business. The problem is that America is in many ways a publicly conservative - or at least quietly hypocritical - culture. Americans - especially in the heartland between the two coasts - don't particularly want their president as an exemplar of a transparently post-modern marriage.
The entire column is a half-assed clip job, devoid of any original thoughts. But more significantly, Sully manages to distort the meaning of the New York Times article, which reads in relevant part:
For much of the last two years the Clintons have been acting as independent operators. They have a home in Chappaqua, N.Y., and a home in Washington. Mrs. Clinton spends every weekend in New York, where Mr. Clinton spends most of his time when not traveling.
They are much more apt to be seen traveling individually, rather than as a couple. Sylvia Woods, owner of Sylvia's Restaurant, near Mr. Clinton's office in Harlem, said the former president rarely came to her restaurant, though Mrs. Clinton regularly turned up. "I need to talk to them about that," Ms. Woods said. "They need to come in together sometime."
Similarly, in Chappaqua, solo appearances by the two Clintons appear to be the norm. Residents said they often saw Mr. Clinton walking around town with his dog, chatting with neighbors or dining in delis and restaurants.
"I see him quite a bit," said Kirk Sprenger, who owns a wine shop in Chappaqua. "He walks through downtown with his dog, stops in at Starbucks for coffee." Asked if he ever saw the Clintons together, Mr. Sprenger quickly said: "Never. Oh no, I have never seen them together."
But John Crabtree, owner of Crabtree's Kittle House, said that the couple came in together frequently, often with distinguished guests.
Associates of the Clintons said today that Mrs. Clinton had spent much of the Congressional recess in Westchester writing the book, and that Mr. Clinton was there much of that time. Two friends of the former president said that Mr. Clinton had raved about what he had read as she was preparing it. (Emphasis added.)
Sully's doctoring is every bit as substantial -- and deliberate -- of a distortion of the original source as is the infamous MoDo quote Sully won't shut up about. The subject of Sully's screed may not be as significant as the subject of MoDo's, but Sully's selective quoting is every bit as misleading. Sully's clip-job is designed to convince his mainly British audience of his "Clinton open marriage" thesis by eliminating the portions of the source that don't support Sully.
Even more misleadingly, the Times article nowhere suggests that the Clinton marriage is or ever was an "open marriage." That is the fantasy of thigh-rubbers (as Bob Somerby would say) such as Sully and his pal Dick Morris. (Perhaps Sully thinks he read that Bill and wine merchant Kirk Sprenger are getting it on at the Starbucks.)
Verdict: Sully is a cut-and-paste fabulist. And a talentless hack too.
TalkLeft reports: "California Expands 24 Hour Lockdowns"
There's just never enough hours in the day....
Seriously, for all of its supposed progressivity, the State of California is hardly progressive on many criminal justice matters. From racist cops and brutal prison guards, to Three Strikes, to the death penalty, to Gray Davis's parole vetoes, California doesn't seem any better, or any different, than the rest of the country on such matters.
The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced a reading list as part of its effort to promote classic works of American fiction and non-fiction to school children. And, from this Washington Post article, it looks like Lynne Cheney tried to horn in on the announcement. The NEH's list is as follows:
Kindergarten through grade 3: "The Cabin Faced West" by Jean Fritz, "Anansi the Spider" by Gerald McDermott and "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" by William Steig.
Grades 4-6: "The Matchlock Gun" by Walter D. Edmonds, "The Dream Keeper and Other Poems" by Langston Hughes, "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George and "Little House on the Prairie" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Grades 7-8: "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Forbes, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass and "The Hobbitt" [sicby J.R.R. Tolkein.
Grades 9-12: "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane, "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, "Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy, "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain and "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.
One can picture Lynne's facial muscles twitching uncontrollably as she read the 9th to 12th grade list. And one would be hard pressed to select books more at odds with the politics of Cheney, her husband and her party. I think I'd add Maggie, A Girl of the Streets as a companion to The Red Badge of Courage.
The Subliterate Post
While the NEH promotes cultural literacy, the Washington Post practices grammatical illiteracy.
Read the article and see if you can determine who put together the reading list. Hint: The answer is buried in the sixth paragraph.
And how about these paragraphs:
Poet Langston Hughes, novelist Stephen Crane and humorist and social commentator Mark Twain grace the recommended reading proposed Tuesday to help American youngsters learn more about their history and culture.
The recommended books feature themes of courage, with various titles proposed for readers from kindergarten through 12th grade.
It's part of a $100 million program sought by President Bush to teach youngsters more about their country.
"Grace the recommended reading proposed...." Huh? And to what does the "it" in the third paragraph refer? Did Bush seek the program or did he get the program?
How about a remedial writing program for Washington Post writers?
Meanwhile, the Washington Post's Book World reviews books on Napster and the Segway scooter. Maybe Book World's editors don't think Sid's subject would interest their readers.
I guess Sid should have given the book a "deliciously witty title." How about "Auto Starroticism"?
Mac Diva writes about anger in the blogsphere. Roger Ailes, the website, largely has managed to avoid such hostility through a combination of obscurity, frivolity and only attacking people who would appear incredibly foolish attacking an obscure and frivolous blogger. Besides, I'm all about love.
"....Under grilling by social critic Camille Paglia and Radar editor Maer Roshan, [Matt Drudge,] the proprietor of the billion-hit-a-year Drudgereport.com .... claims that the Democratic National Committee has assembled a "really thick . . . dirt file" on Condoleezza Rice...." -- Washington Post, June 4
Hmm... I guess Condi won't be telling us who in the Administration was in on the WMD fabrications.
I often chide Mickey Kaus for being a talentless, bitter hack. Yet one of the things I admire about him is his insistence on getting even the most basic facts right before publishing. Take, for example, his current article on the ugly-ass Honda Element. Readers want to know where the car is manufactured, and Mick's determined to nail it down for them -- even though it takes more than five seconds to uncover that fact on Google and maybe two full minutes to confirm it on Honda's website. But Mick shoulders the burden because accuracy means everything. Why, he'd probably even make a phone call if necessary. And that's why ... uh...
"Correction: The initial version of this review erroneously reported that the Element is assembled in Japan. It's made in Honda's East Liberty, Ohio factory."
Well, it was only the initial version of the article. (And no doubt clearly labeled as such.) Who'd be dumb enough to think that was accurate?
Frank's senior enlisted man, Sgt. Major Dwight Brown told the troops before Bush's appearance, "I don't want any damn catcalls from the crowd. We have the president of the United States coming to tell us what a great job we did destroying those heathen up in northern Iraq." -- Washington Post, June 5
Not Jayson; Hornstine.
There was a story a while back about a high school senior, Blair Hornstine, who sucessfully sued to be named sole valedictorian of her graduating class. The dispute involved, in part, the fact that she only attended school part-time and had at-home tutors, a situation which the school had approved for medical reasons. Administrators claimed Hornstine did not face grading as rigorous as her classmates because of the different education she received. Hornstine's condition was characterized in various places as "chronic fatigue" and an "immune deficiency." Those who opposed the Hornstine's efforts, like this wing-nut, asserted that she was extraordinarily active in other extracirricular projects and thus not disabled. Hornstine's argument was that she had the highest GPA, as determined by the school itself, and that school was changing its policy retroactively to allow for multiple valedictorians.
My thought at the time was Hornstine was petty for trying to screw her classmate, but I didn't write about it because none of the articles I read had sufficient information for an intelligent assessment as to the impact of her claimed disability and whether or not she had abused the system, as her detractors claimed. (Plus, it was just another story about fucked-up rich kids with screwed priorities.)
Ms. Hornstine is now back in the news, charged with failing to attribute statements in an articles she wrote for a local paper. In addition to her other maladies, it appears she has a case of Shalit's Disease:
An Oct. 29 story on religion in schools did not attribute information to an opinion by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart.A Nov. 12 article on art censorship did not attribute information to Supreme Court Justice William Brennan and three other sources.
A Nov. 26 story on Thanksgiving did not attribute information, including proclamations by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and 2000.
The editor's note also mentions two essays submitted to Student Voices that had unattributed statements: one last Oct. 26, about the United States and Iraq, and the other on March 29, about the North Korean nuclear problem.
Her defense is that she thought it was okay to cut-and-paste, like every other kid with a computer, and she's not a professional journalist.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.
At least she had the good sense to steal from liberals (though I don't really want her on my side).
And what is it with people named Blair?
On the bright side, her skills make her a shoe-in for a job in British intelligence, writing dossiers for Tony Blair.
"Giamatti understood that a team sport, like democratic society itself, involves a precious and precarious equipoise of individual striving and collective endeavor. In sport or society, break the rules that govern that equipoise and hark! what discord follows."
On the other hand, sympathy for Stewart as a stalking victim of an overreaching S.E.C. seems equally wrong. Stewart is a former stockbroker and the creator of a hugely successful corporation/media empire. Stewart is surely as savvy on matters of finance and law as any CEO, even if her empire's entire gig is to make her appear folksy and non-materialistic.
Says here that a Seattle-based Washington Post reporter lifted the reporting of a local paper without attribution. Will Little Mick run a Len-O-Meter based on this news? Will Mr. Harden's race become the center of Mick's universe? Will Sully "Fisk" the Post's inadequate and oddly-placed correction, which was deemed of less significance to readers than the correct dial-in number to hear The Fleshtones? Will Conflict-Of-Interest Kurtz spank Downie and Donnie Graham on CNN? Why do I bother with these questions?
