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
•
"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
June 29, 2010
Lara Logan's Huge Scoop
Perhaps you got the impression from Lara Logan's recent interview on CNN that she's a horribly embarrassing suck-up who's proud of refusing to report important information that would embarrass the U.S. government. Au contraire!
LOGAN: There are a lot of very good reporters out there. And to be fair to the military, if they believe that a piece is balanced, they will let you back. They may not have loved it. They didn't love the piece I did about hand grenades being thrown in Iraq that were killing troops. They didn't love that piece, it made a lot of people very angry. They didn't block me from coming back.
So, this hand grenade story sounds great! She probably uncovered a big scandal, maybe about a U.S. defense contractor with ties to former generals that was manufacturing defective grenades that blew up prematurely and killed U.S. troops. No wonder she's so proud of it!
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 5, 2007Iraq's New Danger: Armor-Piercing Grenades
U.S. Army Tells CBS News Al Qaeda Is Killing Soldiers With GrenadesBy Lara Logan
An al Qaeda propaganda video dated Aug. 15, 2006, shows a brazen attack on U.S. soldiers with a hand grenade that's more deadly than any other...
It's not a new weapon on the Iraqi battlefield, but CBS News has learned it's being used more now than ever. And for the first time, the Army has admitted this weapon is killing its soldiers...
I realize this seems like a joke, but it's not. Lara Logan wants the whole world to know that she reported that Iraqis were using grenades. Next up for Lara: blowing the lid off the Taliban's brazen use of guns.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at June 29, 2010 08:57 AMJust because it's true doesn't mean it's not a joke!
Posted by: ethan at June 29, 2010 10:45 AMWhat's that line Renee Z's character utters in Cold Mountain?
Posted by: Jack Crow at June 29, 2010 10:54 AMI'm certainly convinced now that Lara Logan sucks. That Matt Taibbi piece is spon on.
What's really sad for me is that now Lara Logan even looks like Howard Kurtz to me.
Posted by: N E at June 29, 2010 12:28 PMDo they come like this, or do they have to be modified?
Posted by: demize! at June 29, 2010 12:50 PMDemize, they take courses at night, in hidden locations.
Posted by: catherine at June 29, 2010 12:58 PMDo they come like this, or do they have to be modified?
The former, if you keep the vat at a constant temperature and feed in the correct nutrients.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at June 29, 2010 01:06 PMa) millions of americans have never filed a story
b) therefore millions of americans have never filed a story that ran afoul of pentagon narratives
c) therefore millions of americans are patsy national journalists
1. hapa...uh...What?
2. Man, I bet Iran has secret grenade stockpiles! That would be craaaaaazy! I bet the U.S. military would absolutely hate if we found out whether or not there are grenades in Iran. Looks like I just found myself an edgy Pulitzer scoop!
Posted by: Jeffbbz at June 29, 2010 02:29 PMMaybe everybody knew this already but according to wikipedia:
Logan's husband is a U.S. Federal Government defense contractor from Texas, whom she met in Iraq.
...
Posted by: Jeffbbz at June 29, 2010 02:39 PMOne of the first comments on Taibbi's blog piece made me laugh out loud: "I guess being figuratively in bed with the defense industry wasn't enough for Logan."
Posted by: nate at June 29, 2010 04:57 PMI have yet to encounter this archetype, "Logan."
I did have the TV on once, and this archetype, "Couric" was emoting about something.
At that point I turned off the TV and haven't visited it since.
Brain feels better.
Posted by: Elise Mattu at June 29, 2010 06:16 PM"I guess being figuratively in bed with the defense industry wasn't enough for Logan." Well sweetie, its Military, its Industrial, it's very complex. Daddie loves us, that's all you need to know. Kay?
Posted by: demize! at June 29, 2010 06:16 PM"Next up for Lara: blowing the lid off the Taliban's brazen use of guns."
or maybe she blows the lid off the Talibans sinister, ingenius method of shooting bullets pointed at American,out of guns.
