philly.com watch: On the Afghan Beat with Trudy Rubin

My colleague and longtime friend, Wolf Achtner, pointed out that Trudy Rubin, on a tour of Afghanistan and Pakistan, reported today what already appeared in German publications four days ago.

Nevertheless, there is no reference to that report. We used to call that plagiarism in my day. You know, I think it’s still called plagiarism. But maybe Trudy doesn’t have a good Internet connection–only sources that tell her stuff that people already know.

Okay, it’s my last post for the moment on the intrepid Inky reporter. But it’s so much fun to see how a bankrupt newspaper can spend money to send a bankrupt reporter to cover nothing while spending a whole lot of money. Sorry.

allmedia.com: The Times Sorta Admits It Was Wrong

Remember that “Arab spring” when “democratic” uprisings swept through Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, and other locales. Well, the New York Times just discovered that the picture isn’t as rosy as the media portrayed it. See http://nyti.ms/l5VOeG

The operative paragraph is the following:

…the specter of divisions — religion in Egypt, fundamentalism in Tunisia, sect in Syria and Bahrain, clan in Libya — has threatened uprisings that once seemed to promise to resolve questions that have vexed the Arab world since the colonialism era.

I guess that’s the Times say it was wrong.

allmedia.com watch: Slate’s Parody of the New York Times’ Final Edition is Brilliant

This will go viral. Slate outdoes the Onion for the final edition of the New York Times. It is absolutely brilliant.

For all of us who hate the Times, this one is for us. http://slate.me/lcaEnG

allmedia.com watch: Let’s Get Back to Work after the Osama Party

The party’s over from Osama bin Laden’s death. Now it’s time to take a look at the mess that’s left on the ground.

Remember that democratic revolution in Egypt? Think again. Muslims are after Christians.

And we had Moammar Gadhafi on the run in Libya? Not anymore. Then there’s Syria where the regime has gone as brutal, if not more than Libya. Seventeen people died yesterday in several Syrian cities. As Robert Fisk. a longtime Middle East hand now with The Independent, reconciliation in Syria isn’t going to happen anytime soon. See the entire article at http://ind.pn/ikgHfu

By the way, did you seen there was a terrorist attack against a popular spot in Morocco frequented by foreigners.

Meanwhile, some numbskull in the federal bureaucracy said that the bin Laden computers and documents included locations of safe houses and other important information about the al-Qaeda game plan. Well, the safe houses are empty now and the game plan has changed. Nice work to those who leaked that information. But there is another numbskull who approved this story for the Philadelphia Inquirer about the terrorism teams in the Philadelphia area. Isn’t secrecy an important part of battling terrorism?

So here’s the deal. Osama was last week. Let’s get back to work this next.

allmedia.com watch: Where is Willie Mays in the Mainstream Media?

I was a longtime San Francisco Giants’ fan. I actually had a signed baseball from one of the greatest teams that never won a World Series: Wilie McCovey, Juan Marichal, and yes, Willie Mays. I wish I still had it. It might be worth a lot of money.

What is more important is that it is absolutely amazing to me that I found a tribute to Willie Mays on espn.com on his 80th birthday and nowhere else. Maybe some other legacy media site has it buried somewhere. Thank you ESPN and shame on the rest of you for not recognizing Mays today.

allmedia.com: Pull Everyone and Every Dollar Out of Pakistan

The quasi-government of Pakistan is mad at the United States for its operation against Osama bin-Laden. The terrorist leader lived 1,000 feet from a military academy  and in a compound filled with former military types for six months.

Pull every dollar we spend, every troop we have there, and every operative out of this country. The government of Pakistan, irrespective of its nuclear capacity, is not worth our time and money. The government protects the terrorists and takes our cash. Time to hit the road and see what the Pakistan government can do.

See http://nyti.ms/jZSH2q

allmedia.com watch: The Work Ahead After bin-Laden’s Death

I sat back yesterday to take in the overwhelming coverage about the attack on Osama bin-Laden’s compound and his death. I would like to add some cautionary notes to what happened:

1. bin-Laden, while the face of terrorism to many in the world, was no longer an operational player.

2. By using the World Wide Web, bin-Laden and his people spread information about ideology and practical information about how to devise and plan terrorist attacks.

3. Americans may have a tendency to see the war on terrorism as less significant than it is, which will place the problem as a secondary one, resulting in less funding for intelligence gathering and the military.

Lawrence Husick, a longtime analysts of terrorism and counter-terrorism wrote, an excellent article today on what lies ahead.

“Although Osama bin Laden did not invent the incandescent light bulb, he may yet be remembered as the Edison of Islamism, inventing al Qaeda, an innovation factory of terrorism without equal in the modern world.  Using his own substantial personal fortune and funds drawn from diverse sources in the Islamic world including both real and sham charities, cybercrime, and blood diamonds, bin Laden transformed the business of holy warrior defending a Muslim land from infidel invaders to a multinational brand, intent on restoring a caliphate that never was, and in the process, overthrowing the nation-states within dar al Islam and taking on the United States and its political and economic allies.  That he failed was perhaps preordained.  That he managed to shake the world is evidence of the continuing danger of his innovation.”

Husick uses the metaphor that bin-Laden set up a variety of independently operated franchises throughout the work that operate independently. For example, the major threat exists from Yemen now, where an operation that cost $4,600 has cost millions of dollars in searching through cargo coming to Europe and the United States. The excellent analysis is available at http://www.fpri.org/enotes/201105.fpri.binladen.html

Moreover, the Middle East is extremely unstable now. Egypt has turned toward Iran. Hamas declared bi-Laden “a martyr.” The United States really does not know the motives of our allies in Libya. Pakistan can no longer be trusted in any way to help the United States in its mission. al-Qaeda cells will seek revenge for their leader’s death.

The head of the snake may have been cut off, but other snakes–perhaps far more dangerous–lurk out there. It is not time to declare victory and turn our backs on the hard work ahead. These are dangerous times.

allmedia.com watch: Journalism Tops Daily Beast’s List of Useless Majors

The Daily Beast, that rather useless piece of journalistic tripe, has come out with a list of useless college majors. The list is based on beginning salary, median salary, and job availability. Are these really the criteria upon which to judge learning and what one does with a college degree?

According to the Beast, a journalism major is the most useless. Gee, I think that most journalism students can write, which is something few other people in society today can do properly.

Nos.2 and 3: Horticulture and agriculture. I guess we don’t need to grow things anymore. We will just import them?

No. 4: Advertising. I guess the Beast plans on running its operation for free without pay!

No. 5: Fashion design. I guess we don’t need clothes because we won’t have enough to eat and no one will be trained in advertising.

No. 6: Child and family studies. F*** the kids and families. No problems there.

No. 7: Music. Don’t need culture.

No. 8: Mechanical engineering. We can just get an app for that.

No. 9: Chemistry. No one needs chemists to develop drugs to cure diseases.

No. 10: Nutrition. Nobody will be fat anymore because we won’t have people trained in producing food.

No. 11: Human resources. Everyone is happy at work!

No. 12: Theater. See No. 7. If we don’t need music, we don’t need plays.

No. 13: Art History. See Nos. 7 and 12. If we don’t need music and theater, we certainly don’t need people who know about art.

No. 14: Photography. Everyone can take good photos with an iPhone.

No. 15: Literature. Since we don’t need music, theater, and art, why do we need to read?

No. 16: Art. Since we won’t have anyone to talk about art, why have art?

No. 17: Fine Arts. And who needs this one after we crossed out every other endeavor known to the Greeks.

No. 18: Psychology. No one is having any problems these days. We all feel good!

No. 19: English. We don’t need to talk either.

No. 20: Animal science. We won’t need any future vets because we will have to eat our dogs and cats because no one will be producing food.

So what are the good majors? The Beast’s list might include accounting, business, finance, marketing. Maybe app creation, Facebook future, and any other way to make money rather than learn stuff. I look forward to the list.

You get to find the URL since I am too disgusted to link it. I really am happy to see who’s running the magazine I use to work for. Blather below:

allmedia.com watch: Now Here is a Really Dumb Idea from the New York Times–Raise Gas Prices

This column is an amazing assortment of poor logic, poor economics, poor policy and just dumb. It’s the old standby of raising gasoline prices so we can make alternatives competitive. This one goes back so far it’s nice to see that these guys are trying to prop it up again. At least there are a few of us old folks around who remember this shoddy argument and a lot of us who are not willing to pay more money for gas.

See dumb and dumber at http://nyti.ms/klxMbJ

allmedia.com watch: Last Typewriter Factory Closes

Printing presses. Linotype. Typewriters. Almost gone forever. Next will be computers within 20 years–maybe earlier. Something else will appear to replace computers.

I must admit that I do not lament the passing of the typewriter. I know that may be heresy among my boomer peers, but I remember the typing class I had to take with Attilla the Hunness. I remember how many mistakes I made. I remember carbon paper, which was a truly cruel invention. I do still have two Olympia non-electric typewriters. Maybe I can sell them on eBay for a bazillion dollars and retire.

I do think it’s odd that computer keyboards are still the same as typewriters. The reason for the design for typewriters was so that the keys would not get stuck and the ease of reaching the most commonly used keys. It doesn’t make any difference with a computer keyboard, but most still use what is known as the qwerty system for the top-left key strokes.

See the passing of the typewriter at http://bit.ly/gzLuO7