"Raines Falls, Media Plunges into chaos"
by JohnHuang2
In post-war BigMediaLand, authorities appeared to be doing nothing to stop the rampant and intractable chaos, the anarchy gripping the turbulent streets. Everywhere you look, turmoil, muddle, confusion, disarray is all you see, the pandemonium prompted by the ignominious fall from grace of Howell Raines, under whose despotic rule BigMediaLand's already battered credibility suffered yet even more humiliation and abuse.
Examples of BigMediaLand chaos and confusion abound:
Under the header, Disorder Deepens In Liberated Baghdad, the Christian Science Monitor reports that "The residents of this capital are growing increasingly impatient with the deepening disorder that is plaguing their lives...after US troops took over the city."
But the previous day the Christian Science Monitor reported that residents of the capital were not growing increasingly impatient with the 'deepening disorder that is plaguing their lives after US troops took over the city' because there is no 'deepening disorder that is plaguing their lives after US troops took over the city' to begin with: Under the header, Efforts to make progress tangible to Iraqis, the paper said "...Face-to-face interactions [between folks in Baghdad and U.S. troops] are improving living standards -- as well as building trust...schools have reopened...attendance rates are rising...improvements are visible. The streets are cleaner. Almost all shops are open..." Gunfire is rare.
Another example of BigMediaLand chaos?
Try this: The Washington Post, under the header, Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team To Leave Iraq, reported Sunday that WMD search efforts in Iraq were winding down, Uncle Sam was throwing in the towel.
The Associated Press, on the other hand, reports WMD search efforts in Iraq were stepping up, no Uncle Sam throwing in the towel: "Pentagon to triple size of team hunting for weapons," blared the AP headline. Reuters reported Monday that "The United States and its war allies are replacing arms inspectors in Iraq with a new, larger team."
The collapse of Raines has left a growing power vacuum in BigMediaLand, 95% of which tenaciously adheres to fundamentalist liberalism. Resentful residents, the *BigMediaLanders* (or presstitutes), were already bitter enough after the swift U.S.-led coalition victory over Baghdad barely a month ago. The loss of Saddam fueled growing frustration among war-battered presstitutes. Many seethe in anger at the dangerous shortage of credibility and integrity -- the veritable food and clean water of BigMediaLand -- and fraying public support in the wake of the deepening Jayson Blair quagmire, whose hideous details precipitated Raines' swift toppling from grace.
The most egregious sacrilege of all: Plundering and looting at BigMediaLand's National Museum, the New York Times, liberalism's greatest treasure. The unbridled pillaging, led by the 27-year-old Jayson Blair, a liberal fundamentalist who repeatedly looted material from scores of sources, has left BigMediaLanders reeling in shock, many in tears.
"That paper was our civilization, our liberal heritage," a BigMediaLander said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "We'll never recover it now." Although the Museum kept its doors closed to ordinary people, BigMedia elitists had full access to the priceless artifacts, the Museum's frozen-in-time liberal daily reportage, conveyed on the pages of the once revered New York Times, journalistic time-warp.
Witnesses said Jayson Blair and other looters daily carried off wheelbarrows-full of material from, say, the San Antonio Express-News, hot-off-Museum-printers, and other material to plagiarize.
Worst of all: The looting, we now know, was actually an insider job, conducted with the full knowledge and acquiescence of Howell Raines, Museum Executive Editor, and his inner circle. Again and again, Museum subordinates warned Raines of Blair's nefarious activities -- the constant looting of material from other newspapers. "We have to stop Jayson from writing for the Times. Right now," urged Metro page editor Jonathan Landman in an email to newsroom administrators a year ago.
Amid the credibility rubble, a chorus of calls for appointment of a new civil administrator to restore order and oversee rebuilding efforts grows louder by the hour.
Frustration across BigMediaLand, now littered with defaced statues and portraits of Howell Raines, intensified over the weekend after Raines' 7,000-word document-dump 'declaration.' The dossier, headlined, Witnesses and Documents Unveil Deceptions in a Reporter's Work, attempted to account for Jayson Blair's weapons of mass disception, how he looted precursor materials from other sources for "Falsification, plagiarism and similar" [WMD production activities]. It was compiled from "A review of articles written by Jayson Blair...by a team of Times reporters and researchers..."
'Day late, buck short,' said most BigMediaLanders.
"Had Raines come clean and put out this report earlier, his fall from grace might've been averted," said a source who knows a source familiar with a source at the Times. Many dismiss the report as a sham, filled with irrelevancies; that Jayson Blair was just the fall-guy and Raines must be held accountable.
To many, the plethora of lame excuses for the looting ring hollow. Some liberals blame slavery, asserting that Blair, who's black, was merely exacting retribution for years of oppression by plantation-owing southern whites.
Wow, what a brilliant explanation, eh? Gee, had no idea Molly Ivans, Doris-Kearns Goodwin, Stephen Glass and Mike Barnicle, who are white aren't really white but black, were merely exacting retribution as former victims of slavery. All three did plenty of looting/plagiarizing, you see.
That said, I don't agree with those who say the Blair case undermines all Affirmation Action. Methinks it re-affirms it.
How so? Well, check out my 'diversity' solution: At the New York Times, you basically have an institution almost exclusively reserved for liars and Clymers, no? Now, where's "diversity" in that? Why not a 5%-10% slot reserved for honest reporters?
Just a thought.
Meanwhile, the string of deadly suicide bombing attacks Monday in Riyadh reminds us all the War On Terror isn't done quite yet.
As of this writing, the grisly death toll has surpassed 30 dead, including 8 Americans.
The attack, the deadliest against U.S. citizens since 9/11, gives Democrats like Sen. Bob Graham of Florida a sense of profound relief -- finally, fodder for the campaign trail! Yipee!
Graham, who's after Bush's job, says Bush is to blame for the bombing; Toppling Saddam, whom captured documents show was linked to al-Qaeda, was a big mistake because Saddam had no links to al-Qaeda, says Graham. Without Saddam ensconced in Baghdad, the world is not as safe anymore. All FBI aircraft carriers, FBI B-52 bombers, FBI jet-fighters, FBI Tomahawk Cruise missiles should pursue one target and one target only: Al-Qaeda. Graham's neat idea was to keep nice guy Saddam in power, avoid diverting U.S. firepower to anything but pursuing al-Qaeda, while diverting U.S. firepower into anything but pursuing al-Qaeda. The Graham Rule: Don't divert scarce resources from the War On Terror to fight the War On Terror. Comprende? Al-Qaeda strike in Riyadh? Invade Lebanon! Okay, don't invade Leanon -- use airpower! Al-Qaeda bombing in Kuwait? Attack Hezbollah in...um...er...Bekka Valley! Or whatever.
Graham, like most Dems these days, is firmly committed to getting things wrong, so rest assured.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents
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