By the Numbers
Thought I'd take a crack at this...
The Friday Five for Feb 28, 2003.
- 1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
Why do you want to know that?
- Because it's interesting. It lets fellow bloggers find out some interesting things about you and it's fun to share. So answer and enjoy!
I don't like people knowing things about me. Puts me in a bad mood, being asked a bunch of goddamn nosey questions. And by the way, you're trespassing on private property.
- That's OK, you don't have to answer. It's just for fun if you feel like it. We'll go ask anoth—
Hold it right there, pal. Turn around and put your hands behind your head!
- Whoa, whoa, be cool, man—don't shoot me—OK I'm turning around...just don't...
Shut up! Just shut the hell up. Now get down on your knees!
- Let me go...I won't tell anyone...
Told you to shut up! Now, tell me, who's your daddy?
- You...you are?
That's right, you little punk—don't look at me—don't you dare look at me. Now start squealing like a pig, and make it sound sexy!
- Weeee...Weeee...
A Tale of Two Editors
You may recall Ann Godoff, who was rudely sacked recently from her position as Editor in Chief when Random House reorganized its hardback division and Ballantine Books.
 Her hat now goes to Daniel Menaker, 61, an executive editor for HarperCollins and a fiction editor for The New Yorker. He worked his way up the ranks, starting as a fact-checker 26 years ago and making it all the way to senior editor. Here's what he has to say about fiction:
- "If I could die and come back as Elmore Leonard, I would make that choice."
He'll have to brush up on his nonfiction savvy, and he's said to be a bit green in the numbers department, both of which are good things, I'd say, since it was looking as if Random was aiming at putting an MBA-type CEO in charge of the unit. Menaker's selection indicates that Random may still have some interest in the artistic side of the game.
An editor of a different stripe is drawing some attention in Booneville, Cal. Talking here about Bruce Anderson, America's "last horse-whippable editor."
 Operating in the spirit of H.L. Mencken, Anderson has proved himself to be utterly fearless and cut from the sort of two-fisted, muckraking, trend-bucking cloth that has all but disappeared in the modern publishing landscape. For him, raising hell is what it's all about:
- Back when I bought this newspaper in 1983, I realized that the population here was so wildly diverse that no matter what I published, I was bound to offend some people. So I decided to make a kamikaze run at it."
Makes me want to go out and start up a newspaper.
The Gatekeepers, Revisited
The INS in New York needs to get its act together, if we can believe this story about a gang of illegal aliens who've been on a crime spree.
- INS red tape makes it nearly impossible for the NYPD to report illegal aliens for deportation when they commit crimes, Mayor Bloomberg's criminal-justice coordinator told a congressional hearing yesterday.
 A case in point would be these animals, who brutally gang-raped a woman last December by snatching her off the street while she was out with her fiancee and dragging her into a shantytown by Shea Stadium. So the cops arrest these guys, all of whom have long rap sheets, a history of skipping court appearances, getting re-arrested while on probation, and playing the plea-bargain merry-go-round. So why are they still here?
This Sounds Bad
There are two stories to follow over at the Chicago Trib, both about a cover-up of a mass beating of inmates by the guards at Cook County Jail.
 This is a picture outside of the maximum security D Unit, a place you really want to avoid. Four years back, a squad from SORT, the sheriff's Special Operations Response Team, came in with dogs and totally terrorized 400 inmates in an orgy of violence that they've been covering up ever since.
Today another story is surfacing, that happened 17 months later, in which an additional group of prisoners were hauled off to the "pump room" for additional correction. This is very rough stuff, but indicative of some excellent reporting by the Trib.
Don't Pay Cash
If you're buying a one-way airline ticket, that is. The TSA is currently testing a new airline passenger risk-detection system called CAPPS II. This sounds like a trial for TIA if you ask me.
- Transportation officials say a contractor will be picked soon to build the nationwide computer system, which will check such things as credit reports and bank account activity and compare passenger names with those on government watch lists.
Y'know, for awhile I was just watching this stuff, kinda shrugging my shoulders, "Those crazy bureaucrats, whatcha gonna do?" But as we move along with our new, kinder and gentler government, I'm starting to get worried. Really worried. This isn't looking like America anymore.
But we're taking a look this weekend. The Raven is off 'til Sunday, investigating the Spring Break antics on the coast.
11:08:27 AM 
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Friday, February 28, 2003
