“I have religiously read the Tribune daily for nearly 41 years. I have enjoyed most of the op-ed columns because they made me think, sometimes because I disagreed with them. I look forward to arriving at the editorial and op-ed pages each day, but I may have to do something else with my time if a particular writer continues to appear. The first time she appeared, I tossed it off that the editor had a lapse of judgment. When it happened again March 8, I had to write you. Even the Sun-Times does not consistently have such poor writing with no redeeming value as the tripe that I have found in the two articles by Molly Ivins… In 41 years of reading your paper I have never commented on a single writer, but Ivins is just blather that I once mouthed when I did not know any better. Some of the more liberal writers come dangerously close to my just ignoring them, but I usually read them anyway. Please, no more of this excuse of a writer.” – today’s Chicago Tribune.
BEGALA AWARD NOMINATIONS: Two new entries for excessive, overblown and often untrue blather from the left.
“If you had a recount today, Al Gore would get 90 percent of the vote and Bush would get 10 percent, and Bill Clinton would be the honorary Treasury secretary and we wouldn’t have this economic crisis, because the way the stock market was going we’re all going to be wiped out.” – Harvey Weinstein, Miramax macher. (Memo to Weinstein: Bush’s approval ratings are at 60 percent.)
“Today, the AIDS czar was axed; by the time you read this, more serious damage will undoubtedly be done. So just as the AIDS community battles with demon downsizing, a more dangerous foe – the People With Aids-hating right wing – has seized power.” – Walter Armstrong, editor of POZ magazine, for people with HIV and AIDS. (Memo to Armstrong: the AIDS office hasn’t been axed.)
PILL-POPPERS: Some fashionable delusions about curing AIDS in Africa examined opposite in my latest TRB. Check it out.
The Dish 