Pure Twaddle

The Washington Post has a front-page story complaining about the low quality of food in Paris. What are well-to-do Washington Post journalists to do? I say, let them eat cake!

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The Washington Post seriously needs to reconsider where online news is going. They have started a new “blog” called Innovations In News which, according to the sub-headline, offers a peek at “the latest creations from Slate and The Washington Post.”

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Since when did David Broder, columnist and University of Maryland journalism professor, get a job with the Obama administration? Here are some quotes from his Washington Post opinion piece summing up Obama’s First 100 Days and their translations into normal speech:

What he has shown — and it is an important accomplishment in itself — is a mastery of the art of managing the presidency.

Trans: Obama hasn’t screwed up yet. Yes, this is a major feat.

And it is surprising, because there was no reason to assume that he had the skills to direct such a large enterprise.

Trans: We were expecting a shite-show considering his complete lack of executive experience.

Obama had a few stumbles in assembling his Cabinet and, as a result, lost the services of one potential major asset, Tom Daschle, his original choice to manage his health-care initiative.

Trans: Sure, six known tax cheaters seem like a lot, but isn’t it better to keep people above the law if they follow your political agenda?

Hardly a day has gone by in the first three months that Americans have not seen Obama on their TV screens in a variety of roles — chiefly as economic salvage director for seriously shattered housing, credit and employment systems.

Trans: Nope, we’re not sick of showing him on the TV yet.

But they’ve also seen him as commander in chief of armed forces fighting two wars, diplomatic traveler engaged with world leaders, and agenda-setter for Congress — to say nothing of first father, first fan, first consort of Michelle and first master of Bo.

Trans: “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.”

But the overture has gone well, and so far, the cast seems to know its parts.

Trans: I’ve memorized my lines, now where’s my appointment?

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Times are tough here on the East Coast. Squirrels are trying to cope with the acorn shortage any way they can. I caught this little acrobat in the act. No matter where I hang the feeder he finds a way to reach it.

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According to the Washington Post*, the National Endowment for the Arts has announced that

“[f]or the first time since the NEA began surveying American reading habits in 1982 — and less than five years after it issued its famously gloomy ‘Reading at Risk’ report — the percentage of American adults who report reading ‘novels, short stories, poems or plays’ has risen instead of declining: from 46.7 percent in 2002 to 50.2 percent in 2008.”

Before you get so excited about the general populous picking up poetry, this category also includes romance novels and loads of other “light reading.” In addition, reading overall is down. People who read any book outside of school or work is down 2.3% to 54.2%.

It’s shocking that nearly half of the country doesn’t read any books that aren’t forced upon them (including not reading to their children, I suppose). How did we get to this state?

Speaking of which, I need to get the hell of the internet and finish Bryon‘s Down Under.

*They had to get in an extra mention of Obama in a totally unrelated article. If you read the style section today, way more than half of the articles mentioned him. I don’t seem to recall that kind of presidential coverage in early 2001.

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Day four of the Obama vacation watch. According to a tw0-page article on the Washington Post website, there is nothing new to report. But it’s good to know they are keeping an eye on the situation.

From the article:

But this month, returning to his former home as president-elect, Obama has gone from Hawaii’s tourist in chief to its hermit in chief. He has been unusually private at the start of his 13-day holiday vacation, providing an early glimpse of what any tropical getaways during his presidency may be like.

The editorial staff considers this front-page news, folks.* Meanwhile, Pakistan is amassing thousands of troops on the Indian border in preparation for a possible war.**

*I know it seems I’m picking on the Post, but it’s verging on idolatry at this point.
**Does anyone else think it’s weird that I have to reference a foreign news source on this?

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The Washington Post is hastening its slide from the preeminent newspaper on national politics to a non-glossy celebrity tabloid. It has been obsessively covering Obama, whom they adoringly call “44,” since his sudden appearance two years ago, amplifying the adulation even more since he was elected. Now, I like Obama as much as the next guy, but this recent article (on their 44-blog) is too much.

A choice quote (emphasis mine)

On Sunday, Obama awoke early for a 7:15 a.m. workout at a gymnasium at a sleepy Marine Corps base on the island of Oahu. Michelle Obama, carrying an iPod and headphones, joined her husband for the 45-minute exercise session, according to a media pool report. As they emerged from the gym, Obama, in a gray shirt soaked with sweat, lifted his right hand to give a quick salute to a couple uniformed Marines standing nearby.

and:

Obama, a left-handed golfer, sported black shades and wore a white polo shirt, brown cargo shorts, short white socks and golf shoes. About midway through the course, Obama stopped by the snack bar, where he purchased two hot dogs, two passion-orange sodas, one Powerade and one Coke. He also bought two Spam musubi, a sushi-like Hawaiian delicacy consisting of Spam and fried egg on a slab of rice, all held together with a dried seaweed wrap. (He paid a total of $17.75, but it was unclear whether the president-elect ate a Spam musubi.)

Please tell me more about the musubi! Did he eat half and save the rest for later. Did he like it? Did it transport him to his Spam-eating days as a child child, frolicking on the beaches of Hawai’i, musubi in one hand, and a dream of changing the world in the other? So many questions, WP, so many questions!

As our economy burns, as the Feds hand over trillions of dollars to whomever asks for it, as thousands of Americans lose their jobs, this is the best original reporting the Post can produce. The newspaper that broke the Watergate scandal, the newspaper with 47 Pulitzer prizes, reads like an unneccesarily verbose twitter feed. The difference is the Post costs $.49/week.

Update (18.06): The comments on the article’s page make me lose even more faith in the WP’s readership.

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