Sunday, May 07, 2006

NYT: The News Whisperer (Tim Love Hewitt, er Tim Weiner)

What's up with the New York Times today? It actually runs a few long (and longish) articles. Are they afraid Sunday readers won't stand for the new Headlines News, briefer, briefer! version?

Carlotta Gall gives you the news with "10 U.S. Soldiers Are Killed in Afghan Helicopter Crash." Since 2006 began, the total number of American troops who've died in Afghnistan is 25. (84 for 2005.) No mention of Canadian losses but they've been occurring as well. (Canadian members, if you'll note it e-mails, we'll include it in this evening's post. I'm too tired to hunt down the number currently and have less than 30 minutes to get this entry and Isaiah's comic posted.)

Sabrina Tavernise covers the British helicopter crash in Iraq (which, you should know of, from reading Trina's entry yesterday morning). Unlike the Afghanistan crash, this one is thought to have been brought down by a projectile. ("Antiaircraft rocket.") British troops had to wait for reinforcements before attempting to check out the crash. Those living in Basra, who were out in the streets, appeared to celeberate the crash before turning on the troops hiding behind vehicles (Tavernise writes that they "turned on the vehicles" which is highly unlikely and illogical), launching Molotov cocktails and setting one vehicle on fire. Four Iraqis ("including two children") died and at least an additional 19 were wounded.

Tavernise does a nice job of covering the events in Iraq (two truck drivers kidnapped, three Ministry of the Interior commandos also kidnapped, a bomb went off in Tikrit killing the bomber and and three army officers while wounding at least one additional army officer, two children died in Baghdad . . .).

So that's Gall and Tavernise. The men? Three stories on the CIA and not a one offering much information. Mark Mazzetti's "Exit Of Spy Chief Viewed As Move To Revamp C.I.A." may be the strongest. Porter Goss steps down Friday, Bully Boy's supposed to announce on Monday that he's nominating Michael V. Hayden. Tim Weiner grabs a quote from Eisenhower on the CIA and at least some readers will be rightly thinking, "He grabbed the wrong quote." Other than that, "A Long Legacy Of Frustration At C.I.A. Helm" is a News Whisperer of an article. (I doubt Weiner can carry off the plunging necklines that Jennifer Love Hewitt does.) Scott Shane "on the one hand . . . on the other" so frequently in "C.I.A. Leader Will Face Crucial Gaps In Iran Data" that it's got to be the text equivalent of a shell game.


That's this morning's Times.

We only finished at The Third Estate Sunday Review before I started this (just finished). Here's the content. Warning "sh*t" is used in the "Darfur" feature and Ava and my TV review uses many words for penis. I'm not remembering any other potential language problem. But I'm tired and you'd probably be better off not visiting from a work computer if you have reason to fear bad language while at work. Here's the new content:

A Note to Our Readers
Editorial: Bully Boy Thinking?
TV: The Urine Stains of David Mamet
Darfur
Head on Home (a musical in four scenes)
Where do you get your information?
Radio highlights for Sunday (and one for Monday)
Why He Took On Rumsfeld: Ray McGovern Talks to Democracy Now!
TV commentary takes a back seat this week to Colbert
Book: Anthony Arnove's IRAQ: The Logic of Withdrawal
Shame of the Week (Musical)

Isaiah goes up when this is through publishing.

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