What bokononists whisper whenever they think of how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.


By Elton Beard

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who divide people into two kinds and those who don't. I don't.


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Technorati Profile


ARCHIVE ARCHIVE ARCHIVE

Sunday, March 26, 2006
2:00 PM PT

Shorter Deborah Howell:
The Post and the Whole Picture in Iraq
  • We're doing our best to publish all the good news we can find in Iraq but Christ, you know it ain't easy.
You know how hard it can be.

Plus: The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me. Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell is pained - pained! - by a letter from a reader who claims to believe that Washington Post journalists are allied with the "terrorists":

One critic of the coverage is John Dowd, a Washington lawyer: "I can't subscribe to your newspaper anymore because you have lost all sense of balance and perspective in your coverage of the war in Iraq and against the terrorists. It is clear to those of us who have our sons and daughters who are in harm's way that you support the terrorists and you are opposed to the efforts of our Marines, all who are sacrificing so that you are free to publish without interference."

Dowd's son Dan is a Marine captain, just back from his second tour as a helicopter pilot in Iraq. Dowd sees his son and other U.S. and Iraqi soldiers "as the most selfless people I've known in my life." I found his letter haunting; it pains me that he would think Post journalists support terrorists.

Think about that.

A reader accuses Washington Post journalists of siding with Goldstein - er, terrorists - and Deborah Howell doesn't think, this man is either demented or trying to manipulate me. She doesn't crumple up and toss the letter and she doesn't add it to her loony folder, already overflowing with missives from crazed liberals. She does not take offense at the slur on her colleagues. Quite the opposite. She takes the complaint seriously.

Think about that again.

Seriously: should Deborah Howell be taken seriously?

See Also: More discussion of the assault on the media at Avedon Carol's SideShow and Peter Daou's Report.

See Also II: Read or scroll past the Howard Kurtz part to the Howell discussion at Why Are We Back In Iraq? (via memeorandum).

Update: Who is this John Dowd person, anyway? An unnamed commenter writes:

I read your post on Ms. Howell’s angst over being called a traitor by "John Dowd, a Washington lawyer".

Mr. Dowd is a trained republican partisan, not a "right wing nut case" (ok, maybe he is that too).

He is actually a well connected, former justice Dept attorney who works out of one of the largest firms in the city -- Akin and Gump.

Here is a list of his political contributions, as a start: link.

He also maxed out to Bush: link.

He actually represented McCain in the keating 5 controversy, and Az republican governor Symington in his fraud trial a few years back.

Deborah howell shouldn’t have been pained or haunted -- she should have just googled him -- it took me 5 minutes to figure out who he was and where he was coming from.

And, digby explains why we're doing all this while uggabugga finds David Broder finding Deborah Howell's analysis very thoughtful.

Friday, March 24, 2006
6:15 PM PT
Shorter Charles Krauthammer:
Of Course It's a Civil War
  • Iraq has always been at war with Iraq.
That's not a bug, it's a feature.
Update: See Also elementropy and hairy fish nuts.

2:30 PM PT

Please stop torturing the president!

Shorter David Ignatius:
Communication Breakdown
  • The ongoing carnage in Iraq presents Mr. Bush with a nightmarish public relations problem.

Thursday, March 23, 2006
12:45 PM PT
Shorter Jonah Goldberg:
Right invasion, wrong explanation
  • Mr. Bush seems out of touch with the fact that he's been right on everything all along. I don't get it.
It's all so confusing!

Plus: Game Check. Saddam Hussein's gambit consisted of: telling the truth, documenting it and inviting both the U.N. and the C.I.A. in to verify it. Jonah Goldberg declares this a "bluff" and says Mr. Bush was right to call it. Presumably, Jonah would also call an opponent who flips a royal flush and raises.

Mr. Goldberg is welcome at my table anytime.

See Also: Geekpol's Evil Twin.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006
4:00 PM PT
They broke it, only they can fix it. Shorter Max Boot:
No shortcuts
  • The only possible impediment to the long-term success of a losing strategy implemented by incompetents is the potential for demoralization due to dispiriting intermediate results.
See Also: Kevin Drum, with the caveat that winning ceases to be an option once your cost has exceeded any potential benefit.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006
4:00 PM PT
Shorter Ben Domenech:
Pachyderms in the Mist: Red America and the MSM
  • The people who hired me are idiots.
Help, help, I'm being oppressed!

Monday, March 20, 2006
9:45 PM PT

I don't want to be argumentative, but...

You can't falsify the unintelligible.

Discussing the War on Terror and (le'havdil) Operation Iraqi Freedom today, Mr. Bush said:
... I don't want to be argumentative, but I was very careful never to say that Saddam Hussein ordered the attacks on America.
Which brings to mind other typical uses of this particular semantic construct...
  • ... I was very careful never to say you couldn't lose money.

  • ... I was very careful never to say I love you.

  • ... I was very careful never to say I was still on the pill.

  • ... I was very careful never to say I've been tested recently.
... all of which share the characteristic of being an after-the-fact technical exculpation of a conscious attempt to mislead. You only have to be very careful to avoid making a provably false statement when you are knowingly trying to disseminate the corresponding false impression while retaining plausible deniability.

The deniability loses a lot of the plausibility when you put it that way, though.

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Busy, busy, busy.

What bokononists whisper whenever they think of how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.


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