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March 30, 2008

Is It Me Or Is The Times Unreadable?

By Bernard Chazelle

Just today, Kristof writes:

How can we judge whether to invade Iraq if we don’t know a Sunni from a Shiite?

Good point. Whenever I kill a Christian, to be certain I am doing the right thing, I always inquire first about their take on transubstantiation.

Maureen Dowd quotes Peter Hart on the central questions:

"Is Obama Safe?" [and] “Is Hillary honest?”

Ah, the age-old associations "black/safe" and "female/honest." Classy, classy. For the non-American readers who need a translation, here it is: "Will Obama rape Hillary?" [and] "Will Hillary say afterwards that she enjoyed it?"

Anthony Cordesman is trying to tell us something. Just not sure what.

An ABC News poll released this month showed that only two-thirds of the Shiite population in Basra had a favorable opinion of the central government [...]

—Bernard Chazelle

Posted at March 30, 2008 01:44 PM
Comments

Well Bernard these are the dangers of reading the New York Times. If you read it too often it tends to turn your brain into a semi-liquid mush. In fact I was reading it early this morning and was impressed with their reporting which seems to consist of repeating whatever is said by whoever is saying things. Indeed they seem to have perfected the art of not reporting any news while seeming to be reporting news. And to think that historians, if there are any, 200 years from now will be researching the Times’ archives to write their history books. LOL.

Posted by: Rob Payne at March 30, 2008 05:03 PM

among the many distressing things about the times's reporting on the sadrists, the biggest is its place in the larger pattern of cluelessness about the politics of urban poverty. treating that disease sensitively will be a big part of globally reckoning with natural collapse and there'll be the NYT, still using street crime to justify redlining and lockdowns.

Posted by: hapa at March 31, 2008 01:00 AM

i should say i have no way to prove that accusation at all. in my defense, i think that's the first time i've ever done that. here.

Posted by: hapa at March 31, 2008 02:35 AM

I don't understand why no one ever seems to actually stop reading the Times

Posted by: StO at March 31, 2008 04:54 AM

Oh, and instead of the Times you suggest reading Z? Eh, the FT is a much better paper, it's my daily required reading. And it beats the NYT hands down stylistically. And pulling a few quotes out of context and mocking them is a pretty lame excuse for writing your usual smug and smarmy drivel. Meanwhile, I will be attending a major M&A conference next week and discussing strategies for European manufacturers. It's the kind of perspective that allows me to see the world as it truly is, and it's quite fascinating.
Very different from the viewpoint of silly and ignorant jerk-offs.

As for black = scary, that certainly was true 20 years ago. Man when I lived in Brooklyn any black male was about the scariest thing you could imagine. But now black = mediocre. In my law skool, Russian LLM students, who would spend one year studying securities and corp law, would take a six week bar review course, and their pass rate was 100%. On a test in a language not their native tongue. African-Americans? after three years of law skool, their pass rate on a pretty simple test was about 70%. And since this was an elite law skool, these were supposed the smartest balck people in America. I'd hang my head in shame if I were African-American.

Posted by: xyz at March 31, 2008 05:59 AM

oh, and my little firecracker? She really astonishes me, I lost track, but she came well over a dozen times last night. I do so every day, since I supplement my already robust sex life, but I have never seen a girl that can come that often. Eh, I am God's gift to the fair sex, but she still amazes me. And I assure you, girls like her wouldn't give you clods the time of day.

Posted by: xyz at March 31, 2008 06:04 AM

I can't help the lies- please try to understand. I ned attention. And a hug.

Posted by: xyz at March 31, 2008 11:10 AM

I also like to put firecrackers in my ass and slurp my own jism. Eh, it tastes better with astroglide than vaseline, but I use whats around.

Posted by: xyz at March 31, 2008 11:22 AM

STUBBY: Have YOU tried Viagra?

Posted by: Mike Meyer at March 31, 2008 01:08 PM

leave xyz alone!

Posted by: chris c. at March 31, 2008 01:39 PM