Thursday, March 4, 2004

If George W.'s favorite NRA-friendly bill is passed, buy a bullet-proof vest. According to the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," gun dealers would be immune from any liability in the event that one of their paying customers decides to mow down a pack of Cub Scouts. After chewing on this stat -- one percent of gun dealers supply 57 percent of the guns used in crimes -- it becomes clear where the administration's allegiance lies -- and it's not with the often talked about "homeland security." Instead, if the bill passes, victims, like the ones gunned down by John Mohammad and Lee Malvo in the Washington D.C. area, would have no legal recourse to prevent those same people from getting assault weapons without background checks. Interestingly enough, Bush's own front man, John Ashcroft, has taken liberties with the Second Amendment by digging into private records for "homeland security" sake. As Arianna Huffington points out, "I guess Ashcroft missed the al-Qaida training manual our soldiers found in Afghanistan, which included a chapter on how easy it is to stock up on a whole sleeper cell's worth of weapons in the United States." 1:46:36 PM    comment []

The AP is having a field day with NBC's Katie Couric today, as she is desperately trying to defend her interview with well-known, former New York Times plagiarist/serial fabricator Jayson Blair, who has authored a newly published book about his "evil doings." While I am hesitant to give one iota of space to Blair or his book, the Couric criticism is definitely revealing of just how much controversy surrounds him -- even after The Times fall out. I'm not entirely sure that landing the first interview with Blair is particularly novel anyway, especially as most producers have backed away from giving him press for reasons of, perhaps, allegiance, but also (most importantly) distrust. Who wants to give credence or air time to someone who is a proven liar? While Blair claims to have stopped lying...well...he still blames his deceit on substance abuse, never actually accepting responsibility. Seems as though he has no problem accepting free press, however. Meanwhile, The New York Times is said to be mulling over whether to review the book for reasons of, um, merit? 11:01:59 AM    comment []

A thank you is in order to Brian, who aptly pointed out that my reference to Whitney Pastorek was gender-confused. That is, I referred to Ms. Pastorek as a "him," when in fact, she is very much a "her." Apologies. Hopefully my error didn't steal too much away from the actual reference. I must have had Eli Whitney on the brain, as opposed to that character from A Different World. No one thinks about Whitney Houston anymore, right? I definitely wasn't thinking about Whitney Houston. 10:40:55 AM    comment []