In between this, that and the other thing, I’ve been whittling away on a long, whiny post about Ohio’s Issue 1. Then I reread it, thought time to let this go, and spiked it.
Because this, that and the other thing is occupying me at the moment, how’s about a nice fresh bouquet of linkage, along with a short anecdote:
Today was one of those days when working in a newsroom is really fun. At one point in late morning, we were tearing up the front page for three breaking stories. One was pretty well under control, but two weren’t — escaped wildebeests from the zoo (no kidding) and a hostage situation in which the hostage-taker said he was holding a 15-year-old girl with a shotgun wired to her neck.
Mercifully, the hostage-taker turned out to be delusional and his hostage, imaginary. But the wildebeests were the real deal.
OK, bloggage:
(President Bush) was asked by Bob Schieffer whether he thought “homosexuality is a choice.” This is what Bush said: “You know, Bob, I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
In the best of all possible worlds, Schieffer would have asked, “Why not? How could you not know? Don’t you know any gay people, Mr. President? Have you ever asked them? Don’t you know any parents of gay children and have you asked them about their kids and when they knew, sometimes at a very young age, that their son or daughter was homosexual? In all those private lunches with Cheney, all the time you two have spent together, didn’t you once have the intellectual curiosity to ask your vice president about his daughter?” After all, Bush was making policy in this area — trying to bar gays from ever marrying in these United States.
Richard Cohen states the obvious in his column today: George Bush is a great big pander bear.
Elsewhere in the WashPost, Hank on Mary — not literally, of course.
Proving a sense of humor runs in the family, Rob Hiaasen on Bill O’Reilly. (Rob’s Carl’s brother.)
Snippet: He wrote: “Here’s another smart thing to consider. Whatever you do, don’t give the details to your friends. That is a betrayal of trust. I don’t care if it was the best sex in your life.”
She wrote: O’Reilly in 2003 regaled her and her friend over dinner “with stories concerning the loss of his virginity to a girl in a car at JFK, two ‘really wild’ Scandinavian airline stewardesses … and a ‘girl’ at a sex show in Thailand who had shown him things in the backroom that ‘blew his mind.'”
Snicker.
Later.
Michael G said on October 20, 2004 at 9:30 am
Mary Cheney? I think Steuver’s right about her. But I thought Laura Bush was the one who wore nothing but ugly Montgomery Wards pant suits. Her clothes look like they came from a carport sale down to the trailer park. I don’t know what she’s trying to hide but she makes Mamie Eisenhower look dishy. I didn’t read Rob Hiaasen. I couldn’t bring myself to fill out yet another form to read yet another newspaper. I’m signed up with so many of them now. Maybe some other time.
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Mike said on October 20, 2004 at 10:02 am
I enjoy your articles in here, but a series of links to newspapers I then have to register for just doesn’t do it for me. I think it’s unfortunate that all these publications are slamming their online doors shut to the casual reader, rather than encouraging the visitors. I realize the free sign-up makes them money, since they can collate demographic information and send me info on contests and other offers, but I wish there was a way to avoid all this.
OK – enough tilting at windmills.
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Danny said on October 20, 2004 at 10:41 am
A politician pander. Hmmm.
But you know, Kerry probably has the bigger problem in that department. Earlier in the campaign (read until last week) he alternately pandered to the doves and hawks. Then there is him showing up in black churches in the south to show how God-fearing AND ethnic he is.
BTW, any of you read The Onion. Best newspaper on the net. If you are not familiar, go to theonion.com and check out the link on O’Reilly on the first page. Pretty funny.
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Danny said on October 20, 2004 at 10:55 am
RupRoh! I sense a disturbance in the force. Dave Barry states he will be taking an indefinite leave of absence beginning in January. He says he may return in 2006 or later, though.
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brian stouder said on October 20, 2004 at 12:26 pm
I’ve signed up for NY Times and WaPo; a great political-dish news site with no sign-up that I follow every day is msnbc’s “first read” – which y’all may already know about.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/
there’s usually a few genuinely funny things in there every day
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joodyb said on October 20, 2004 at 1:23 pm
yay for hank. i did not realize, after all this, that mary cheney is our very own ellen james in the world according to W.
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Nance said on October 20, 2004 at 2:34 pm
A little-known fact about newspaper registration, at least this case: The Baltimore Sun is owned by the Chicago Tribune, and if you’re already registered at the Trib, your log-in and password will work at the Sun.
Also, at the Orlando Sentinel.
N.
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Dave said on October 24, 2004 at 2:41 pm
I don’t mind registering so much, it’s when they start charging for it or expect you to be a subscriber, even though you don’t live anywhere near, a la the Columbus Dispatch. On the other hand, it’s their paper and they’re not in the public charity business.
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