Wonkette
- Iran sent a representative to the Hague for an international conference and said that a troop buildup in Afghanistan probably won’t help there, but that Iran will help with reconstruction and anti drug-trafficking efforts. If you’re an American paper, the headline is “Iran Critical of U.S. Troop Buildup in Afghanistan.” If you’re British, the headline is “Iran offers to help US rebuild Afghanistan.” Why are US reporting organs so gloomy? [Washington Post, Guardian]
- The monster who ran the Khmer Rouge’s worst torture center, now on trial for genocide, said he was sorry and that he was just following orders. [Los Angeles Times]
- Google has started up a venture capital fund because all of their other money-losing ideas have been exhausted. [Official Google Blog]
- Japan’s unemployment rate hit a three-year high, rising to 4.4 percent. Still sounds pretty OK, right? Like, 4.4 percent is what the US has when things are going well. [AFP]
- President Obama leaves Washington today in preparation for the Group of 20 summit on Thursday. (He needed to get there early to establish “sterile areas” and learn how to drive a car.) [Dow Jones Newswires]
- The problem with GM’s restructuring plan was that it didn’t move dramatically or fast enough. [New York Times]
Ebenezer Scrooge, addressing the Japanese unemployment problem: “Are there no unlicensed manga mills? Are there no teahouses?”
Don’t forget, you’re talking about the Washington Post, SKS. You know how Burger King is the “home of the Whopper?” Well, the Washington Post is basically the “home of the neo-con.” Never saw a Middle-eastern intervention it didn’t like.
Serolf Divad: Certainly you’re not accusing somebody like Charles Krauthammer of being a well-dressed, insane advocate of counterproductive, genocidal, army-breaking, ill-advised military adventures in order to satisfy his bloodlust and take his mind of his own impotence. Because he dresses like shit.
from the Japan piece….”There were 2.99 million people without jobs, up 330,000 from a year ago.”
GM’s vehicle design and quality was heading in the right direction before the economic collapse, but it was too little and too late.
When I see Comrad Duch getting a fair trial it makes me all the more enraged that Jr. could not figure out what to do with the guys in Gitmo for seven years.
and trucknutz.
Your organ would be gloomy too if it was attached to a massive, bloated, dying corpse, sinking slowly under the weight of its own irrelevance.
I also see that the GM PAC gave about 2:1 to Repubs over Dems under Waggoner. Haha Waggoner, who’s your daddy now?
norbizness:
Don’t forget Bill Kristol and the entire WaPo editorial board. For the past 8 years pretty much any unsigned Washington Post editorial dealing with the Middle-East could easily be copied and pasted wholesale into the Weekly Standard and absolutely no one would notice.
Can I haz good news pleeze. and also images of jiggly old bubbly masses like mr K being attached to little dinky weeners harshs what little buzz I have from the five bucks I made on Saturday selling pencils. so please stop and also.
Why are US reporting organs so gloomy?
We have Gloomy Organ Syndrome.
Sages say Teh Intarwebs is making it worse by spreading gloom and doom, which leads to a crisis in confidence amongst us little people.
I blame you bloggers.
On an unrelated topic:
You have to admire PBS’s impeccable timing to air the ‘feel good’ documentary on Jim Jones last night. Kool-Aid, anyone?
Domed Vultures???? Dammit, is another mediocre expansion team soaking the taxpayer to build a new stadium???
Oh wait. Nevermind….
GM is an lumbering giant that soaks up resources and is nearly impossible to turn around. Also, it has no resale value, so now we’re stuck with it until it completely falls apart.
Serolf Divad: And now Jake Tapper is saying the War on Terror is over. This isn’t going to go down well.
http://lostintarnation.blogspot.com/2009/03/ghost-in-graveyard-is-war-on-terror.html
Internally valid: a lumbering giant, dumbass.
Gloomy Organ Syndrome is caused by news reporters who can’t seem to figure out the mystical art of getting laid. The best remedy for this malady is for the corporate media organs to follow the advice of Dr. Cheney and go fugg themselves.
GM’s ex-CEO, Rick Wagoner, gets the boot and $20 million to ease his pain. Anybody want to chip in for a sympathy card?
rachelv: Oh well that is what you get for actually reading the article.
Internally valid:
Until they ramp up their Correlian Starship Division.
Serolf Divad: Pretty much. As the late great George Calin said, “The play with their toys in the sand.”
MarieDeGournay: “They want to play….” Ack, need more coffee.
Why are US reporting organs so gloomy?
Because the entire US is stuck in 1979-81 when it comes to Iran. Which is why it’s currently doing an end run around the US and the West and on its way to becoming the preeminent power in the Middle East.
The monster who ran the Khmer Rouge’s worst torture center, now on trial for genocide, said he was sorry and that he was just following orders.
Bull. Shit.
Good luck, Mr. President. Try not to do anything stupid at the summit.
The only reason Japan’s unemployment rate is so low is that they count anyone who scores over 80,000,000 in Dance Dance Revolution as employed.
Japan’s unemployment rate hit a three-year high, rising to 4.4 percent.
Japan is like that Asian kid who gets upset that they only got an A rather than an A+
Min: Well, it’s okay that our Iran policy is still mired in trying to vindicate the hostage-taking, cuz our Cuba policy is still mired in 1959. That Fidel Castro’s a Red, trying to turn Cuba into a Soviet Union satellite state!
And Vietnam? Oh, don’t ask.
The company has announced plans to sell its Saab and Hummer divisions, phase out its Saturn brand and turn Pontiac into a niche brand.
A niche brand is like Louis Vuitton, right? So we’ll soon be able to buy knockoff Pontiacs on the street corners in Manhattan?
jagorev: Unlike Japan, that kid in middle school didn’t run up to strangers and apologize profusely for it. Just rest assured that Japan deeply regrets that AIG-FP demolished the world, and they are drafting ideas for making reparations right now. Top proposal now is free tentacle porn for all three million of their hobos.
Srsly. Some of the best news involving “Iran” and “USA” for like decades and the WashPo wants to accentuate the Bush war hate line.
Min: Nah, our Organs are gloomy, not just about Iran, but because that’s how our Organs sell themselves (Kidneys and Bladders and Penises and whatnot). LATEST DISASTER MUST READ! STOP THE
PRESSESBLOGSTCP PACKETS! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!Our Organs are both Gloomy *and* ALLCAPS.
Sara K. Smith: Do you mean Japan *isn’t* sinking under a tide of aimless, hopeless people? Oh. You could’ve said.
V572625694: The only nice thing about Vietnam is that we just don’t need to think about it anymore. We may have lost, but I would not categorize the Vietnamese as ‘winners’. Iraq/Iran were/are (maybe) building nukes, Cuba is building rafts and a criminal empire in Florida, but Vietnam has not made news since that tiny Asian man that rescued John McCain, fifty years ago, turned out to still be alive. So there’s really no opportunity to look at Vietnam through the Cold War Goggles.
Korea, on the other hand…
Zadig: Fuck it, throw in a couple Creepy Uncanny-Valley Robots, too.
Who the fuck is going to buy the Hummer division? Unless they give actual, you know, hummers. Or is it that they’ll be exclusively a military car supply company?
I’m kind of hoping Comrade Duch doesn’t get a fair trial. A Nürnberg-style victor’s justice trial would be fine with me: sort of looks fair from the outside, but is totally rigged on the inside. Plus anyone using the ‘following orders’ trope gets extra beatings at night.
“Hey Duch, guess what? It’s Year Zero again. So last night’s beatings didn’t happen. We get to start all over again. And tomorrow it’ll be Year Zero again, so tonight’s beatings will not have happened, either. So we’ll have to start all over again. You see a pattern developing, Duch?”
Ventures aren’t doomed. They’re happy party music.
hobospacejunkie: Who is going to buy the Hummer division?
Iraq. They love teh Hummer status symbol..
plus, if you install some lead plates it provides protection from the exploding roads they have over there.
shanemacgowan: It’s tough, kid, but that’s life.
Serolf Divad: If you think the WaPo is crazy on the Middle East, you probably don’t want to know their track record on coup-mongering in Latin America.
hobospacejunkie: Er, Gitmo-style torture is wrong for [b]everyone[/b], including real bad guys. Thinking otherwise makes even the best of us a little more Dubya.