Miss America and the Pope (buried) on the front page. The Times seems unaware of it's faltering reputation. (Maybe "indifferent to" is the more appropriate term?) And inside the paper, Charlie LeDuff continues to do the folks proud and justify the monies spent on j-school so by continuing his coverage of the most pressing issue of our times: the Michael Jackson case.
Do current j-school students debate whether to aspire to become the next Jane Mayer or Charlie LeDuff? Do they finally decide, "I think I'll go with LeDuff because it's so damn important and does such a public service." If so, pray for us all, pray for us all.
On the front page, note Sharon La Franiere and Denise Grady's "Fear and Violence Accompany a Deadly Virus Across Angola:"
The death toll in Angola from an epidemic caused by an Ebola-like virus rose to 174 Friday as aid workers in one northern provincial town reported that terrified people had attacked them and that a number of health workers had fled out of fear of catching the disease.
International health officials said the epidemic, already the largest outbreak of Marburg virus ever recorded, showed no signs of abating. Seven of Angola's 18 provinces have now reported suspected cases and several neighboring countries have announced health alerts.
Inside the paper, you'll find Adam Nagourney's "G.O.P. Consultant's Marriage Is a Gay One:"
Arthur J. Finkelstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has directed a series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel over the last 25 years, said Friday that he had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts.
Mr. Finkelstein, 59, who has made a practice of defeating Democrats by trying to demonize them as liberal, said in a brief interview that he had married his partner of 40 years to ensure that the couple had the same benefits available to married heterosexual couples.
In Pennsylvania, a sixteen-year-old girl is being held, Nina Bernstein reports in "Teachers and Classmates Express Outrage at Arrest of Girl, 16, as a Terrorist Threat:"
According to a government document provided to The New York Times by a federal official earlier this week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has asserted that both girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." No evidence was cited, and federal officials will not comment on the case.
[. . .]
"I just can't fathom this," said her art teacher, Kimberly Lane, who has repeatedly called the youth detention center but like Ms. Carr was not allowed to speak to the girl, who has no lawyer. Among the unanswered questions they raised was why, if she was really a suspect, no F.B.I. agent had shown up to search her school locker or question her classmates, who sent her letters of support.
And David D. Kirkpatrick reports that as the heat on Tom DeLay turns up, even the Bully Boy seeks shelter in "After DeLay Remarks, Bush Says He Supports 'Independent Judiciary.'"
Tom DeLay. More and more, it's as though he's living Stevie Wonder's "Skeletons:"
Oh things are gettin' real crucial
Up the old wazoo
Yet you cry, why am I the victim?
When the culprit is y-o-u
What did your mama tell you about lies
She said it wasn't polite to tell a white one
What did your daddy tell you about lies
He said one white one turns into a black one
So, it's getting ready to blow
It's getting ready to show
Somebody shot off at the mouth and
We're getting ready to know . . .
("Skeletons," words & music by Stevie Wonder, can be found on the Stevie Wonder album Characters.)
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