Dexy's back, look who's back. He lives on in via his spiritual child, Alissa J. Rubin, who seems to be going for the dumb ass award with every piece of late. I saw her byline and cringed. Reminded myself that people can have off days and surely Rubin's due for a strong story any day now. This isn't it.
Dexy's daughter brings SITE back. That's cute. That little hate group mounted by a woman who was loose with the facts (we're being kind) in an interview with 60 Minutes -- the sort of thing that generally gets you drummed out of the sources business. Of course the paper doesn't note that. (And probably prays no one reads The New Yorker.) So she's doing Daddy Dexy proud. It's just herself and the paper she's embarassing.
But note that she does have an editor. Not a working editor, but she does have one. So spread the blame a bit for what follows but, remember, it does have her name on it.
36 people died in Karbala, she tells you. Reuters gave you a count, before she wrote [this piece yesterday], of about 50 and it's now given, by Reuters, as 43. Well counting's not Rubin's strong suit. Just as she puzzles over the difference between "said" and "asked," counting leaves her confused.
Maybe she thinks readers are confused? (Angry or bored, yes, but not confused.) That must be why she pens the following sentence:
In Baghdad, three roadside bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing three people and wounding several more.
Gee, Alissa, where was the bombing again? "In Baghdad . . . in Baghdad," she answer sounding like she wanted to substitue "band camp" ("One time, in band camp . . .") Again, she does, have an editor, spread the blame. (But watch the paper try to blame it, if they mention it, on a printer error.) Sites SITE, can't count and wants to tell us that "In Baghdad" there were bombings "in Baghdad." Dumb Ass.
Really, I take no joy out of her calling her out. Please, Rubin, write something worthwhile or even half-way decent. Or just readable.
(For the angry e-mail that will come in from a paper -- which one? yeah, right -- I don't have an editor, this isn't my life. I could have been a reporter if I wanted to, it didn't interest me. More and more, half the things up here are dictated because I'm on the road speaking. And, as I long ago noted, I'm dyslexic so having a mispelled word stopped being a worry decades ago for me.) (I should note that in Beta, Blogger/Blogspot actually has a spell check that works. I should also note that I've now been up 29 hours straight so I'm not even going to access the feature.)
Reuters files a report today. It may be news to some. I'm not taking credit, it was noted strongly by someone serving in Iraq Friday morning (my time, Friday morning) and it had been noted less strongly be two other friends serving in Iraq. So Reuters tells you there is concern that the bridge attacks may be an attempt by the resistance to divide the city. Again, it was noted here on Friday and again yesterday. And, to be frank, it could have been noted by any paper that wanted it, all they had to do was listen to the ones serving. But that's not happening in most cases. In most cases, the mainstream reporters who come near anyone who's not a general, go where they're told and make a real point to ignore anyone who wants to speak to them, who tries to speak to them. We're under this impression embedded process has stopped. Oh sure, the reporters embed every now and then for a story about a mission in Al-Anbar but that's different than in the capital, right? No. No, it's not different at all. Like dogs trained with an electric collar that is replaced with a non-electric one, the reporters know where they can step and where they can't, whom they can speak to and whom they can't, they follow orders better than anyone enlisted and, at this point, the orders are so internalized that they don't even need to be spoken.
For those needing to check, the bridge issue (as a division) was noted:
Friday -- "Other Items"
Saturday -- "NYT: Keeps pimping 'International Zone"
Ruth's Report went up late last night. (Dallas was checking some things for her.) (Thank you to Dallas and to Ruth.) Isaiah's comic goes up shortly. (And thank you to Isaiah.) Linjamin Mull is the latest US war resister, noted here earlier this morning.
New content at The Third Estate Sunday Review:
Truest statement of the week
A Note to Our Readers
Editorial: The disgusting silence on war resisters...
TV: Wasted away in second banana-ville
1 Book, 5 Minutes
Don Imus
Mailbag
What Would A Mud Flap Say If A Mud Flap Could Flap...
10 CDs listened to while writing this edition
Highlights
McCain News
VOTE INSANE! VOTE JOHN MCCAIN!
Two of those are reposts. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the new york times
alissa j. rubin
linjamin mull
the world today just nuts
the third estate sunday review
ruths report
