or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
February 24, 2006
The Secret Of Comedy Is, Of Course, Ti-MING
Danielle Pletka, vice president at the American Enterprise Institute and alpha neoconservative, recently wrote an angry op-ed for the Los Angeles Times slamming the CIA:
[T]he CIA itself is a political organization... it should be clear from the sheer volume of senior intelligence officials quoted regularly in the nation's newspapers that there was--and is--a specific agenda...There were, for example, inaccurate warnings... that [Iraq] would erupt into civil war...
Beautifully enough, Pletka's op-ed was published on Tuesday, one day before the mosque in Samarra was blown up.
The only way this could have been better is if Pletka had written: "There were, for example, inaccurate warnings that I would write an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that would make me look like an incredible moron."
Posted at February 24, 2006 09:31 AM | TrackBackA Perfect Title!
Think they got the Dr. to get his foot out of her mouth yet??
Love it when that happens. Many such stupid remarks come so far in advance of "the act" that people fail to connect them. This is perfect.
Ok, perfect is relative to the juxtoposion of the items and not indicative of the acts. The civil war in Iraq is horrible and nothing those people need on top of our atrocities.
Note to wingers - I and most lefties never celebrate such acts. We don't want to win points at the expense of innocent people.
Got it? We aren't gloating.
Posted by: spiiderweb at February 24, 2006 11:03 AMWow! Kewl! Can I get someone to pay for my drunken idiotic ramblings too?
Posted by: wkmaier at February 24, 2006 11:04 AMWhat exactly constitutes a 'specific agenda'? I keep hearing that phrase, or a variation on it, used as a pejorative.
Presumably, one could avoid this pitfall by removing all conclusory evidence from their evaluations and stripping away anything which might suggest a reasonable inference. Maybe remove all adjectives, adverbs, etc., as these could be misinterpreted as constituting an analysis - or, worse yet, an opinion. Last thing we need from the intelligence community.
Posted by: obviously at February 24, 2006 01:11 PMobviously,
Well, obviously.
Posted by: Sully at February 24, 2006 01:22 PMSully: your use of the adjective obviously suggests you may have drawn a conclusion, and I detect an agenda in there somewhere. Stop it.
Posted by: obviously at February 24, 2006 01:37 PMErm...obviously it's an adverb. I knew that.
Posted by: obviously at February 24, 2006 01:39 PMWhen I read shit like this, I am reminded of Douglas Adams' quote: In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad idea.
It makes me want to eat glass. Thanks, Jon!
