I’ll be writing a column. Yay! And it’s so frigging hot. But have a good one. I for one will celebrate one single thing: that since September 11, terrorists have been unable to attack any Americans on American soil. Just because the success is measured by what hasn’t happened rather than by what has, doesn’t mean it isn’t real. We have endured. We will prevail.
RAINES WATCH: Every single letter to the New York Times today on school vouchers was anti-voucher. Sure, they’re responding to Milton Friedman. But did no one agree with him? Many contain obvious fallacies.
THE TOLERANT FAR LEFT: When all else fails, vandalize.
IT’S NOT THE CRIME, IT’S THE COVER-UP: Open question to Chris Mooney of the American Prospect. When your magazine told the Columbia Journalism Review that your monthly unique visitors were 450,000, what month were you referring to? And what is your latest version of the traffic in that month? Meanwhile, Mickey piles on …
THE ARAB ON THE ISRAELI TEAM: Want a reminder of the difference between Israel and her Arab neighbors? How many Jews are on the national soccer teams of the Arab countries? Meet Walid Bder, the Arab on Israel’s. And it’s so unremarkable, no one really notices.
A DIFFERENT PLEDGE: This is the pledge of allegiance, a University of Texas professor thinks ought to replace the current one. If you don’t want to ruin your July 4, don’t read on:
I pledge allegiance to all the ordinary people around the world,
to the laid off Enron workers and the WorldCom workers
the maquiladora workers
and the sweatshop workers from New York to Indonesia,
who labor not under God but under the heel of multinational corporations; I pledge allegiance
to the people of Iraq,
Palestine and Afghanistan,
and to their struggles to survive and resist
slavery to corporate greed,
brutal wars against their families,
and the economic and environmental ruin wrought by global capitalism; I pledge allegiance
to building a better world
where human needs are met
and with real liberty, equality and justice for all.
Paid for by Texas tax-payers.
HOW EMBARRASSING IS BOB HERBERT? Today’s column is barely worthy of a high-school newspaper – the tired analogy (to Pig Pen, a Charlie Brown character! Our Bob is so hip!), the facile ideology, the false premise (that on most measurable indicators, the environment is getting much worse, rather than better), the lugubrious sanctimony. And someone with this level of argumentation is granted the most precious real estate in American journalism.
The Dish 