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
April 10, 2008
Charles Manson Stunned People Still Deny Helter Skelter Ordered Him To Kill
The Washington Post editorial page is extremely angry that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are criticizing the possible U.S.-Colombia trade deal. How can Obama and Clinton say these horrible things, the Washington Post wonders incredulously:
Are they each unaware of the real statistics on NAFTA's effects?
On December 3 last year, the Washington Post, in an editorial called "Trade Distortions," published these real statistics:
Not that any of the Democratic candidates seem to care, but the impact of NAFTA seems to have been both larger and more positive in Mexico than in the United States. Mexico's gross domestic product, now more than $875 billion, has more than quadrupled since 1987.
According to the IMF's World Economic Outlook Database, the Mexican GDP increased 84% from 1987 to 2007. Moreover, anyone who knows anything about economics—not much, just the amount you pick up from reading Time—would have realized without checking that the idea the Mexican economy quadrupled in size in twenty years was preposterous. But apparently people who know a bare minimum about economics are forbidden from writing Washington Post editorials about economic policy.
Back when the Post published this, I called the editorial page several times and told the person who answers the phone about their mistake. They wouldn't identify the author of the editorial, but promised to pass along email from me that included an interview request. No one ever responded, and the Post has never corrected the editorial.
As I like to say, it's a lot easier to accept the Washington Post if you think of it not as a newspaper, but instead as the church newsletter for a particularly unpleasant religion. No matter what happens out here in reality, they're going to smugly dismiss anyone who doesn't share their peculiar fantasies.
Not that any of the Democratic candidates seem to care, but there's a spaceship hiding behind the Hale-Bopp Comet that will take us on a ride if we all commit suicide at exactly the right time.Are they each unaware of the real statistics about the hidden spaceship?
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at April 10, 2008 08:41 PMTo be fair to Manson, "Helter Skelter" has been ordering me to kill for years now.
Posted by: Save the Oocytes at April 10, 2008 11:46 PMNo one ever responded, and the Post has never corrected the editorial.
Of course. Whoever wrote it must have seen the 84% figure and thought, 'That means it equaled just 16% before. I'll be conservative and say it quadrupled.'
Posted by: hf at April 11, 2008 12:10 AMYou can think of it as a church newsletter, but to me it's just Pravda with color pictures. The good news is that every quarter their financial results are worse than the one before.
Posted by: sglover at April 11, 2008 11:24 AMWait, you mean Charles Manson isn't a victim of the prosecutorial system? Really? He seems so cute on those endless MSNBC shows about him and his darling little family.
Posted by: catherine at April 11, 2008 12:20 PMGiven the "uni-ethnicity" character of upper management at The Washington Post, is it possible that they have an agenda? After all no one controls a newspaper for its ROI.
Outfight lies than, serve a purpose. I find their reporting on the Israel/Palestinian issue most distasteful.
Posted by: J. Edwards at April 11, 2008 10:52 PM
