MULTIPLE CHOICE: The Bush Administration's near-nonstop pronouncements that "there will be another attack, and it's only a matter of time" are: A) a transparent attempt to deflect attention from last week's "What Bush Knew" stories; B) a transparent attempt to cover their asses if there is in fact another attack; C) a defeatist, Bud Selig-like act of self-sabotage aimed at minimizing their own successes in order to make the enemy look even worse; D) hypocritical, in saying that "there will be an attack, possibly nuclear" out of one side of the mouth while saying "we must not live in fear" out of the other; or E) all of the above.
I had nary a negative word to say about Bush, Dick and Rummy between 9/11 and May 1, but my how things change.
"CRAZIES FROM BROOKLYN": After years of PLO-sympathizing rants from awful Israel correspondent Alisa Solomon, The Village Voice has made a rare honorable editorial decision in turning the Israel beat over to Sylvana Foa, who now writes the much more balanced "Letter From Israel" column. Foa this week observes that a large segment of the West Bank settlement population (which she sees as a key impediment to the peace process) consists of Brooklyn natives, some of whom are the most militant Jews on Earth. In addition to so many of the modern-day settlers, she writes, historical figures such as Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane and Hebron mosque gunman Baruch Goldstein were also born and educated in the Borough of Churches, as it's ironically called. But Foa is even more critical of the Palestinian side, writing of their propensity to "add zeroes to their casuality totals."
"YOU'RE THE BITCH, BITCH!" Nope, it's not Jerry Springer, it's MediaBistro. The indispensible journalism job-search website runs a regular feature called the "Bitch Box," in which employees of big media companies are invited to share complaints about their employers, the NYC media culture, etc. One particularly angry Hearst Magazines staffer posted a 15-point memo berating her unbearable bosses. While the memo has been taken down from MB, it was tracked down by the Hearst bigs, and the beleaguered Editorial Assistant was summarily fired.
WIN TWINS!: I know my coverage has been a bit Twins-heavy in recent days, and for that I apologize- but first the stadium bill passes and now this: On Saturday, the first-place Twins defeated the Anaheim Angels 4-1, for their 26th victory of the season, and their first against a team with a winning record. Let me repeat that: the Twins, who are a first-place club, beat a team with a winning record for the first time this year on May 25, in the ninth week of the season. This truly says something about the unbalanced schedule, and about how much the American League Central Division sucks- and it's also gotta be some sort of record.
WALLACE GETS SHOT: This "Mike Piazza Is(n't) Gay" story is bound to be remembered as one of the most entertaining news events of the year- one of those happenings that should be a one-day story but instead continues for days and weeks. The latest drama: New York Post sports columnist Wallace Matthews tried to write a column critical of gossip colleague Neal Travis for breaking the "Mike is gay" story, had the column killed by his superiors, and thus quit/was fired. Matthews, who will continue to be employed by the MSG network and ESPN Radio, will certainly be missed in the pages of the Post, especially compared to such other section columnists as TV critic/sanctimonious blowhard Phil Mushnick and NBA beat writer Peter Vecsey, whose writing style can only be compared unfavorably to that of a bad Catskills comic. Matthews, who wrote mostly about basketball and boxing, must be admired for taking a stand, even if it's against a publication not exactly known for its journalistic integrity.
AND NOW THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR...: Live, in ASCII: The Death of Jar-Jar Binks!
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 28, 2002 01:29 AM