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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
PunditGuy
Published Letters: 87 Editor's Choice: 17
I realize it's in a flyover state (and therefore isn't worth noting), but the St. Paul, MN, mayoral race is practically a direct referendum on Bush. Incumbent Democrat mayor Randy Kelly last year endorsed Bush, and it looks like he's going to pay for that endorsement with his job.
What I said (and the system so rudely deleted) was that I couldn't disagree with the previous poster's view of "Azkaban." I've never read any of the books, and I found that film to be the most entertaining of the series.
I enjoyed GOF quite a bit, but I had to rely on my HP-reading wife to explain so much that I think we've reached the point where "everything is going to change" -- non-readers are increasingly going to be left behind.
Ugh. Somebody fix this system to allow people to edit their posts.
I'll shut up now.
Could this be the drama Bravo is looking for in a second season of "D-List?" Tune in and find out?
I have a feeling that David Horowitz's term didn't last long at Salon because his column eventually degenerated into Self Indulgent Drivel (SID). Traister's material started at the SID level and has slowly crumbled its way into narcissistic self importance with a side dish of trivial.
You can keep promoting her material to Salon's front page at your peril. There are memberships on the line, and you should really consider putting your best foot forward.
I don't even know where to start. How about, in no particular order:
1) You just wielded your editorial pen to take on a guy who posted a review on Amazon. Not a pundit, not a person with a journalistic gig, just some guy posting his musings on an unedited bulletin board.
Seriously -- what level of communication would be unworthy of your attention? Try reading the scratched musings on a bathroom stall. That will give you plenty of material to write about.
2) You elevated those unedited musings to a level of importance far beyond their wildest dreams. Did your reporting skills unmask any sort of credible "Ross meme" in the general public? If not, why did you waste your time talking about this?
3) Other than ad hominem attacks, did you have anything thoughtful to say about what Ross had to say? The lone, lame attempt I saw was the reference to Anthony Quinn not having had anything to do with Dowd -- as if that were any sort of refutation of his apropos use of an anecdote.
I understand what Ross was getting at, even if he wasn't particularly eloquent when it came to getting his point across. But that point was either worth refuting or being left to its undeniable obscurity -- yet you chose to do neither. That is both curious and strange.
>And why not review Amazan user
>reviews? Because they're not
>authenticated and credentialed?
>What does that have to do with
>the free flow of ideas on this
>topic? I say: bring it!
In your very next sentence, you admit that Traister's post did nothing to advance the "debate." So you've recognized the second problem, which is that she's got nothing meaningful to say.
The first problem, which you've rationalized with the quotation above, regards the nature of the "ideas" that are free flowing. Just because a male crackpot says it doesn't mean 1) it's typical of what men think; or 2) it's worthy of debate.
Let me demonstrate. Here's a section from an Amazon review of "The Bell Curve."
>What H&M have exhaustively researched
>in their book simply reiterates what
>I've always known: blacks (on average)
>are inferior to whites. Racism exists
>because races exist. Shocking isn't it?
>Racism is not skin deep; black people
>are not white people with black skin.
>Just as there are physical differences
>so too are there mental differences.
Now, I am not going to run to some blog and claim that white people are racists based on the ramblings of some idiot at Amazon. Why? Because I'm a better journalist than Traister, apparently.
D: If you go in, at least get U.N. approval.
R: No, don't need it.
D: If you go in, at least take enough troops.
R: No, got what we need.
D: If you go in, at least go with a large coalition.
R: No, got all the coalition we need.
D: Would you please let other countries help rebuild?
R: No.
D: Would you please let other countries help train Iraqi troops?
R: No.
D: Boy, things sure aren't looking good over there.
R: Why are you so negative? Come up with some solutions, why don'tcha?
For centuries, domestic cooking was in the purview of women while professional cooking was a male-only profession. (It's not that were either incapable or incompetent when it comes to the work that women traditionally do; we'd just rather get paid for it.) It's been a slow road integrating professional kitchens, but the process is underway. Maybe the fashion world didn't get the taffeta-lined memo.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
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