Ok, that's just sad. And stupid.

And people wonder why I don't subscribe to the Strib.

I'm serious about that, too. I can be chatting with a neighbor or someone I met at a party, something that was mentioned in the paper comes up, and I'm clueless; they inform me of what's going on; I shrug my shoulders and say, "Well, I haven't subscribed in years." They express shock and wonder at this statement, and perhaps look down on me, like I'm an idiot, that of course I should be subscribing, otherwise how will I know what Garrison Keilor has written this week? I honestly don't give a rat's ass what the Strib has published and, in general, the People's Republic of Minnesota is a much nicer place to live when you're not aware of what a select group of idiots (coughcoughMinneapolisCityCouncilcoughcoughStateLegislatorscoughcough...) are up to. I mean, honestly: what does it matter if I pay attention anyway? Will anyone in the establishment listen to me if I complain? No. So, why bother?

What's funny is that a few months back, when I wasn't blogging, I was actually called by a Strib reporter, who shall remain nameless because I can't remember his name. He left a message on my voice mail in regards to Mike Zabawa and could I please call him back? I have a brother that goes by that name and I wondered what he could have possibly done to merit attention. I call the guy back, and I find out that it's not my brother he's asking about, but rather this guy, who, allegedly, tried to wipe a Waseca family out of existence on a cold February night. I told him I didn't know him, and if I was related to him I certainly didn't know anything about it. Since he seemed disinclined to believe me, I had to explain that "Zabawa" is actually a pretty common Polish name, so, no, even though my maiden name is the same, I probably wasn't related to the guy. The reporter was also surprised that I didn't know anything about this. He seemed to assume that everyone knew all about the story and when I told him I didn't, because, ahem, I didn't subscribe to the Strib. His reply: "Shame on you." And he was half-serious, too! I told him I subscribed to the FT, and that shut him up. It just goes to show you what a ridiculous air of entitlement this newspaper---and some of its employees---gives off. It seems they just assume you should subscribe because you live here, that quality of content doesn't come into the equation. It's a ridiculously blind way to go about your business.

It's like a pot dealer not realizing that their market is eroding due to meth sales.

That said, I kind of had the feeling Lileks would get the ax, or a demotion, at some point. His column has been whacked at with the column-inch weed whacker for years, so that it's barely a shadow of what it used to be. They changed it from "The Backfence" to "The Quirk" and they moved it from the Variety page to the Metro section when they changed the name. (At least I think they did. The only time I pick up the paper lately is at the oncologist's office.) It's been coming for some time. God only knows what they're going to do to him next, but he's much too talented a writer to be forced to churn out stories about the Internet. I'm sure he'll give it his best shot, because that's just who he is, but it's a magnificent squandering of talent if I've ever seen one.

{see also: Martini Boy's Bartender and the Llamas}

Posted by: Kathy at 02:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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George Tenet from his 60 Minutes interview on Sunday:

{...}Tenet admits the CIA's mistakes and his own. But what makes him angry now is how the White House ignored CIA warnings, cooked the books on intelligence, and then used "slam dunk" to brand him with the failure.

"The hardest part of all of this has just been listening to this for almost three years. Listening to the vice president go on 'Meet The Press' on the fifth year of 9/11, and say, 'Well, George Tenet said, slam dunk.' As if he needed me to say slam dunk to go to war with Iraq," Tenet tells Pelley. "And they never let it go. I mean, I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. You know, 'Look at what the idiot told us, and we decided to go to war.' Well, let's not be so disingenuous. Let's stand up. This is why we did it. This is why, this is how we did it. And let's tell, let's everybody tell the truth." {...}

{my emphasis}

What is that I hear? Could that possibly be the world's smallest violin playing the saddest of all sad songs just for you, George? Could it be? I think it is. Because God only knows you've had it rough over the past three years, living the life of a fat cat government retiree with a book deal. Poor you. Gosh, it must really be hard to have to hear Dick Cheney bad mouth you on national tee vee. How do you stand it? Copious amounts of scotch? Vicodin? Hookers? What? George, how do you manage to make it through the day? America wonders.

Far be it from me, however, to point out that for all your bitching and moaning about how hard it's been to listen to Dirty Dick badmouth you, there are other people who have it worse than you do. People with a far greater sense of honor, courage and fortitude, who are living through Hell on Earth, fighting bad guys left, right and center and who, sometimes, only manage to survive by the hair of their chinny chin chins. They, too, are facing the direct consequences of your actions, yet they don't get to go on 60 Minutes and whine about how hard it's been for them the past three years. Scott Pelley sure as hell doesn't want to interview them---that is, unless they've been accused of doing something wrong Then he's all over them. But until that point? Nope. They suffer in silence. And that's the way they like it. Because they don't see it as "suffering" per se; they see it as "doing their job."

And you just made it harder for them.

Nice double whammy, asshole.

In case you're wondering whom I'm referring to George, well, it's the men and women of the United States Armed Services, who went to war because their Commander in Chief ordered them to---a Commander in Chief who based his decision to wage said war on intelligence you delivered and which turned out to be bad. Surprisingly, however, they don't mind that. They're in Iraq, and no matter how they got there, they want to finish the job they started. Yet, you take no responsibility for your part in all this. Instead, you choose to whine that you've been scapegoated by an administration who never appointed you in the first place, and who should have, by all rights, fired your sorry ass on September 12, but who not only gave you the benefit of the doubt after 9/11, and who also went to bat for you when critics bayed for your blood. This is how you repay them. This is how you repay the men and women who risk their lives everyday for this country. You whine about how hard it's been to be badmouthed on Meet the Press?

Well, far be it from me to say so, George, but perhaps there should be a little rendition in your case. As in they should throw your lard-ridden ass on the back of a C-130 (no private jets for you, George), fly you to Iraq, dump you in the middle of Baghdad (and not the Green Zone, either) and see if your perspective changes a bit.

Methinks you'll still feel sorry for yourself, but it'll be for other reasons then.

See also: Hitchens and Fausta.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:43 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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