Wednesday, October 22, 2008
will they ever learn?
Not to be overlooked in my annoyance with the writing of the WSJ article, isn't it curious that Chinese manufacturers are still using Melamine in food products after so many quick -and publicized- deaths?!
WSJ in a hen basket
I was worried when Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal this summer (see related article here), a newspaper I covet for global news and who I've trusted for many years. This is a man who owns Fox News for pete's sake.. and we all know what fluff they spew. He actually owns many news sources around the world which could play like a bad movie should he wish to create and/or control such news.
Slowly my paper began to change. In addition to seeing some articles that looked too tabloidish for the 'old' WSJ, I started to see more ads and my paper started to get thicker. There were also more color photographs where none were needed before to draw attention to various articles.
On October 21st, a clueless writer was revealed.. In the 'What's News' section of the front page, a snippet read like this:
Some 1,500 dogs in China
bred for their fur died after eat-
ing feed tainted with the chemi-
cal that contaminated milk, A12
Now.. I'm familiar as likely all WSJ readers and at least 1/2 of the world's population are that the chemical recently identified for contaminating milk in China is Melamine. I'm also aware that there are a myriad of chemicals that could contaminate milk. I'm sure the writer was just trying to make the link, but failing to recognize that we as informed readers could make the same link quickly.. is annoying and poorly executed.
Shouldn't it have read like this?
1,500 dogs in China
bred for their fur died after eat-
ing feed tainted with the chemi-
cal Melamine, A12
Slowly my paper began to change. In addition to seeing some articles that looked too tabloidish for the 'old' WSJ, I started to see more ads and my paper started to get thicker. There were also more color photographs where none were needed before to draw attention to various articles.
On October 21st, a clueless writer was revealed.. In the 'What's News' section of the front page, a snippet read like this:
Some 1,500 dogs in China
bred for their fur died after eat-
ing feed tainted with the chemi-
cal that contaminated milk, A12
Now.. I'm familiar as likely all WSJ readers and at least 1/2 of the world's population are that the chemical recently identified for contaminating milk in China is Melamine. I'm also aware that there are a myriad of chemicals that could contaminate milk. I'm sure the writer was just trying to make the link, but failing to recognize that we as informed readers could make the same link quickly.. is annoying and poorly executed.
Shouldn't it have read like this?
1,500 dogs in China
bred for their fur died after eat-
ing feed tainted with the chemi-
cal Melamine, A12
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
more on Palin
Granted, Mrs. Palin did a great job not embarrassing herself during the debates last week. In other venues where she was not rigorously coached and forced to memorize long streaming sentences, she fared much worse showing her true colors.
Here is an excerpt from Bob Herbert in his 26Sept2008 NY Times article (and other reasons we should be scared of the Republican party):
"The United States has been lucky in terms of the qualifications of the vice presidents who have had to step in over the last several decades for presidents who either died or, in Richard Nixon’s case, were forced to leave office. Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson became extraordinary presidents in their own right. Gerald Ford successfully guided the nation through the immediate aftermath of one of the most traumatic political crises in its history.
For those who think Sarah Palin is in that league, there is no problem. But her unscripted public appearances would lead most honest observers to think otherwise. When asked again this week about her puerile linkage of foreign policy proficiency and Alaska’s proximity to Russia, this time by Katie Couric of CBS News, here is what Ms. Palin said she meant:
“That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land — boundary that we have with — Canada.”
She went on, but lost her way mid-sentence: “It’s funny that a comment like that was kind of made to — cari — I don’t know, you know? Reporters ...”
Ms. Couric said, “Mocked?”
“Yeah, mocked,” said Ms. Palin. “I guess that’s the word. Yeah.”
It is not just painful, but frightening to watch someone who could become the vice president of the United States stumbling around like this in an interview.
Ms. Couric asked Ms. Palin to explain how Alaska’s proximity to Russia “enhances your foreign policy credentials.”
“Well, it certainly does,” Ms. Palin replied, “because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there—”
Gently interrupting, Ms. Couric asked, “Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?”
“We have trade missions back and forth,” said Ms. Palin. “We do. It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to our state.”
Be very very afraid.
Actually, what I'm thinking.. is that the Republican party will have Sara step down on October 21st only to announce a new 'equally energizing' VP candidate that will be equally unqualified and where we'll have no time to discover anything about them (much like Dick Cheney).
Here is an excerpt from Bob Herbert in his 26Sept2008 NY Times article (and other reasons we should be scared of the Republican party):
"The United States has been lucky in terms of the qualifications of the vice presidents who have had to step in over the last several decades for presidents who either died or, in Richard Nixon’s case, were forced to leave office. Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson became extraordinary presidents in their own right. Gerald Ford successfully guided the nation through the immediate aftermath of one of the most traumatic political crises in its history.
For those who think Sarah Palin is in that league, there is no problem. But her unscripted public appearances would lead most honest observers to think otherwise. When asked again this week about her puerile linkage of foreign policy proficiency and Alaska’s proximity to Russia, this time by Katie Couric of CBS News, here is what Ms. Palin said she meant:
“That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land — boundary that we have with — Canada.”
She went on, but lost her way mid-sentence: “It’s funny that a comment like that was kind of made to — cari — I don’t know, you know? Reporters ...”
Ms. Couric said, “Mocked?”
“Yeah, mocked,” said Ms. Palin. “I guess that’s the word. Yeah.”
It is not just painful, but frightening to watch someone who could become the vice president of the United States stumbling around like this in an interview.
Ms. Couric asked Ms. Palin to explain how Alaska’s proximity to Russia “enhances your foreign policy credentials.”
“Well, it certainly does,” Ms. Palin replied, “because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there—”
Gently interrupting, Ms. Couric asked, “Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?”
“We have trade missions back and forth,” said Ms. Palin. “We do. It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to our state.”
Be very very afraid.
Actually, what I'm thinking.. is that the Republican party will have Sara step down on October 21st only to announce a new 'equally energizing' VP candidate that will be equally unqualified and where we'll have no time to discover anything about them (much like Dick Cheney).
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
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