Monday Morning Hodgepodge (written on Tuesday!)
I know, I haven’t posted about the Iowa caucus for real yet - though a number of you have asked me about it. Chris Kelly was in town all weekend and we spent too much time making fun of bad TV movies for me to find time to post. I’m looking at the draft just now.
Update: I totally didn’t finish writing this blog either! It was warm as heck in Chicago, and I went bike riding all day.
Local culture note: They have torn down the Byron’s at Chicago and Halsted. Another nail in the coffin of my childhood.
Anyway, I had a bunch of things I wanted to write about yesterday. At least one of them has been subsequently addressed by the offender.
On Sundays, the Chicago Tribune runs a rather trite magazine section called Parade. It’s carried by a bunch of other papers as well (several hundred or something), so imagine the surprise on the faces of dozens of remaining print newspaper subscribers as they gazed at a picture of Benazir Bhutto. Imagine their continuing surprise as the cover asks if she is the best chance for fighting al-Qaeda in Pakistan. And imagine their curse-sputtering shock as the interview with Bhutto proceeds with no mention of the fact that she was assassinated nearly a week and a half earlier.
Today (Tuesday) the Tribune ran an editorial talking about how they had to run it because it was in their contract, it was Parade’s editorial decision, they put a note that no one saw in the Sunday paper. Perhaps, Tribune, you might have thought about running your mea culpa before the article came out. You still look like idiots.
Though that may have already been hanging out there anyway, the Monday morning Editorial/Commentary page producing righteous indignation as always.
Firstly, the Tribune editorial staff came out strongly in favor of ‘ladies’ nights’ at bars. Their rationale behind this important endorsement is:
because they benefit both sexes. The women come for the 2-for-1 well drinks, and the men come because the place is full of women. What’s not to love?
Great! I’m glad the Tribune is covering the crucial topics of our time. Then again, they ran an editorial last week praising Kenya for embracing the democratic process in their smooth election, so maybe it’s a good thing that they’re sticking to lighter subject material. Their predictions about ladies’ nights are unlikely to go so horribly wrong as their prognostications about Kenyan politics.
And Charles Krauthammer wrote some nonsense as usual, which I’m not going to bother linking to. It was about how countries with dynasties can’t be considered true democracies. He wrote this article without an ounce of smirking or (god forbid) reflection on American politics. Similarly, Bill Kristol is getting nothing but rave reviews over his debut performance at the NYT.
There were other things as well, but my hamsteresque brain remembers none of them. I seriously told Jeremy about a 20-minute backstory about a friend of mine yesterday. When I finally arrived at the ‘point’, both of us had completely forgotten the topic that had gotten us there. The charms of being friends with me.
Bonus: In complete violation of all standards, I’m going to backdate this entry for Monday. Oh, the hubris!
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