Luce Rolls Over In His Grave

I am so outraged by Time's decision in the Plame case that I don't know where to begin. Time thinks that reporters protecting confidential sources are equal to "ordinary citizens" and should be treated as such. We are living in a scarey time and our democracy is shrinking day by day. A free press is always the first casualty.

Arrived in Nantucket on Tuesday. Was invited to join friends there. Actually had the laptop in the airport with me - walked back to the car and locked it in. Stumbled upon an internet cafe with terminals so couldn't resist. Couldn't go more than a week without blogging, now could I?

Specially since I have excellent news. I accepted a new job on Tuesday with an online news startup. It's in Manhattan so no more commuting to Stamford, CT. And it looks like I'll be able to continue teaching journalism - something my current company couldn't allow me to continue. But more than that, I'm excited to be part of something that I can help bring to life. More details as they become available. In the meantime, I've got a few things that I've found to be outraged about. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Even in beautiful Nantucket.

Okay - I'm as happy as the next person that the boy scout in Utah was found alive. But I couldn't help but ask myself -- could this kid be any dumber? According to is parents, he's a "bit slow" so I won't be too harsh. But is it me -- or at 11, shouldn't you know the difference between asking for help or starving to death, lost in the woods? It's me, right?

Sorry for the deluge. Lots of outrage brewing lately.

I can't figure out how I feel about this one. Okay, just kidding. Wanted to see if you're paying attention. It's all about amending the Constitution for a non-existent problem. Once again, don't these people have ANYTHING better to do?

If you can follow the timeline of flag descration-related legislative activity by the brain trust in Congress, it seems to me this is a desperate attempt by the right wing conspiracy to place their stamp on the Constitution. Which will likely be upheld when Bush replaces Rehnquist on the SCOTUS. Classic. Or am I being paranoid?

Apparently the federal government has found a War on Drugs it might be able to win. Because the people using the drug are too fucking sick to fight back. What is wrong with this picture?

Wow - you'd think this started yesterday. My outrage? What's behind the decision to close chat rooms over sex content and what took Yahoo so long to figure this one out?

Have they NO shame? I refuse to accept that the so-called right wing conspiracy can act so blatantly. At first my thought was, of course Public Broadcasting funding is in jeopardy - they have to pay for Iraq somehow.

But then further reading (thanks for the link DT) gets to the nut of the matter - no pun intended. Any institution that supports homosexual messages is at risk. PBS is just the next in line. Thank god for MoveOn - that organization is the only source of hope I have for our democracy. I'm serious.

PS - I just remembered we're talking about Congress - this is likely just political theater and funding will be restored - but it still is outrageous.

What a shock. Brad Pitt cheated. So it doesn't matter how gorgeous you are or how skinny you may be - if you marry a man who cheats, guess what? He cheats (rr*). Poor Jennifer had so many clues - the first being he's a movie star -it's hard to feel much sympathy for her.

And thanks to U.S. News and World Report, I do at least know how research scientists became interested in stopping PMS. More power to 'em.

I find it interesting that Research Shows Fat Smokers Get Old Faster - nothing to be really outraged about there. But what I can't figure out is who commissions this sort of research to begin with. Does someone decide to find out specifically that fat smokers get old faster than thin smokers? Or is it something else entirely?

Interesting read from Paul Klugman's column Losing Our Country. Just started reading The Tipping Point by Gladwell. I'm late to the game but it's a book I highly recommend if you haven't already.

I find it interesting that a 30-year secret is revealed at the height of the strongest scrutiny of anonymous sources that the press has ever seen. And now the second day story is whether Felt was a "hero" or a "snake." The only problem with Felt's revelation is that it's too easy to lose sight of the fact that his role helped topple a corrupt administration. Period. He was one on many - likely remembered due to the sexually explicit tie-in of his name. I never saw the moview but apparently it had a lasting impression too.

NPR also has an interesting piece with comments from Colson and Magruder. Interesting that Colson thinks Felt should have stayed brought his findings to Nixon, not Woodstein. I had to replay it because I was sure I'd heard him wrong.

Who knew, really. Worth reading this article - specially for the Ephron quotes. Also, I'm curious. How does a high school student write about this and it not spread everywhere? There's more on this to come. I'm saving my outrage for when the assholes really come out. I saw on Fox News (yes, I know) that one of the convicted Watergate burglars believes Felt is dishonorable. What's dishonorable about aiding the Fourth Estate's efforts to inform the public about one of the most corrupt administrations in our nation's history? I'll need to ponder that for a while. And don't even get me started about Pat Buchanan. He's indefensible.