Sloth and stuff

Ok, I have been slothful in my posting of late. Now that I think about it I am just plain slothful. It has gotten so bad that I refuse to check if slothful and gotten are real words. I have been working on another Bozone Awards post but there is so much coming in everyday that it becomes passe' ( forgive the French ) before I can finish. Just to satisfy both of my readers, I will tell you this, the UN is on site and will be holding meetings in their continued efforts to lead the effort to provide food to two million people. We can now relax a little.

Good old Seymour Hersh has either revealed state secrets or he has been used by the Administration as a tool for disinformation. On the one hand he should be prosecuted or on the other hand given one of those Darwin Awards or maybe a Bozone. Apparently I am not the only one musing about whether Sy has been an unwitting shill.

Jeff Jarvis of the Buzzmachine has a little thing to say about the Times irresponsibility to not only its readers but to its victims. This is yellow journalism as its best or worst with lives at stake.

Sarah Boxer's story on IraqTheModel in today's New York Times Arts section is irresponsible, sloppy, lazy, inaccurate, incomplete, exploitive, biased, and -- worst of all -- dangerous, putting the lives of its subjects at risk. . . .

So here is a reporter from The New York Times -- let's repeat that, The New York Times -- speculating in print on whether an Iraqi citizen, whose only apparent weirdness and sin in her eyes is (a) publishing and (b) supporting America, is a CIA or Defense Department plant or an American.

Ms. Boxer, don't you think you could be putting the life of that person at risk with that kind of speculation? In your own story, you quote Ali -- one of the three blogging brothers who started IraqTheModel -- saying that "here some people would kill you for just writing to an American." And yet you go so much farther -- blithely, glibly speculating about this same man working for the CIA or the DoD -- to sex up your lead and get your story atop the front of the Arts section (I'm in the biz, Boxer, I know how the game is played).

How dare you? Have you no sense of responsibility? Have you no shame?

I have been watching Condi Rice and her confirmation hearing. It has been a good hearing except for (so far) two members questioning. John Kerry finally showed up to a committee after several years absence and made a total fool out himself although he never mentioned that he served in Viet Nam. The other moment was Barbara Boxer who just should be a total embarassment to her State and to her Party. At least she didn't cry on cue but she did seem close a time or two. I'll try to post the appropriate transcript when available.

This just in..Generalissimo Francisco Franco and Yasser Arafat are both reported to be in stable condition