The New York Times is Dead

Unbelievable.

So I recently managed to bite my tongue hard enough to finish the documentary "No End in Sight" and even though the movie came out in 2007, the film helped me realize that we are already fucked for 2008.

($100 a barrel oil, US dollar in the toilet, housing crash)

It's one thing to follow Iraq in the news for 5 years and be infuriated piece by piece, but it's something entirely different to watch the whole process laid out like it was in this movie.

The War in Iraq has already locked the spot of "the century's worst political failure"and that makes it doubly hard to watch Bush smirking and jostling his shoulders while playing dress-up in front of helicopters or watching Rumsfeld laugh about a quagmire in 2003.

The level of willful arrogance, myopia and deceit in this disaster astounds me.

My perception of experience has been shattered.

New graduates with no urban planning were put in charge of traffic in downtown Baghdad, meanwhile Cheney with decades of experience, ignored his owns statements about the difficulty of an Iraqi invasion and led the charge.

The whole Clinton/Obama experience issue is meaningless to me, now more than ever. Character is much more defining than just doing a job longer.

I've been watching war movies, documentaries as well as reading books and memoirs about the Middle East in the past month or so while I try to understand what the fuck happened. The Alphabet boys would probably like a few questions about my library records they are probably recording.

Some of note are,

• Rory Stewart's memoir "The Places in Between" is fascinating, if occasionally boring look at immediate post 9/11 Afghanistan through the eyes of the gulliest white man ever. (He walked across the entire country.)
  
  
• "Days of Glory" about Algerians who fought for France in WWII and got completely shitted on. Like "Glory" with Denzel, but better.
  
  
• Even "Last King of Scotland" connects to Iraq for me. Knowing Idi Amin got to live his life in peaceful exile in Saudi Arabia after his crimes against humanity was an outrage to the "civilized world" yet Bush and Co. will fade into history unscathed by the same people who lust to prosecute African dictators in the Hague and other World Courts.
  

So what the fuck does this have to do with the New York Times?

Hot on the heels of the NY Times being a cheerleader for the Iraq War in 2003 via Judith Miller, and the general failure of the media of criticize Bush in 2000 or 2004, we have the mainstream media outlets hiring the filthy detritus of the warmongers who have been fired or quit in shame after the Iraq War debacle. These 'men' have proven themselves as having no real insight into world politics and history, yet they are awarded again and again with a national stage to spread their poison.

Newsweek has hired Karl Rove.

The New York Times has hired Bill Kristol.

These papers have tried to present these hirings as some enlightened move, where they are giving equal voice to every viewpoint. I wrote to the Times telling them that my family would cancel their subscription after Kristol's hiring and I received this response.

• Thank you for your e-mail concerning Bill Kristol. We appreciate your
  interest and your taking the time to let us know how you feel.
  
  Mr. Kristol's column will be appearing on the Op-Ed page, where we offer a
  range of diverse opinions -- often differing from our own editorial
  opinions. Given that we are a news organization that believes in vibrant
  political discourse, we have brought Mr. Kristol on board after a long and
  thoughtful search through the ranks of strong conservative voices.
  
  Will you -- or will we -- agree with him? Probably not.very often . . .
  but that is the point of offering multiple views and providing intellectual
  diversity. We hope the column will engender open debate and discussion in
  the democratic tradition of newspapers. And we hope that you will continue
  to read and to express your views to us. We very much value your
  readership.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Blah blah (Name removed)
  SVP, Corporate Communications
  The New York Times Company

Long search?
Who did Kristol beat? Let me guess.

Limbaugh
Hannity
Savage
and
O Reilly?

The NY Times does not get it. And I have been co-signed on this.

There is a difference between offering a conservative opinion which William Safire (who is incredibly smart) did successfully for the Times, and a Bill O Reilly style smear artist like Bill Kristol.

Bill Kristol has been wrong or lied about every major issue in the last 8 years.
Check out his list of shit.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=153112

http://mediamatters.org/items/200712290001

• Kristol falsely claimed of Clinton and Obama: "She hasn't passed any legislation. He hasn't either."
  
  Echoing White House, Kristol attacked Pelosi for trip to Syria, which GOP-led delegation also visited
  
  Conservative pundits attacked Clinton for perjury and obstruction, but now defend Libby
  
  Wallace failed to challenge Standard editors on debunked story
  
  Kristol falsely claimed Dems "renounce[] the use of force" against "jihadist Islamic threat"
  
  Kristol: I wish Bush had said "a little more about winning" and "a little less about helping the Iraqis"
  
  Kristol's first Time column contradicted by Time's own reporting
  
  Kristol repeatedly attacks "critics" of the Bush administration, yet refuses to name, or quote, a single one
  
  Kristol and Kagan falsely claimed exit polls showed public evenly split on "pullout from Iraq"
  
  On Fox News Sunday, Kristol falsely claimed "Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio" are "pro-Bush states"
  
  On Fox, Kristol blamed "voters in Florida" for Foley debacle: "[M]aybe they should have known better"
  
  Kristol accused Democrats -- not Republicans -- of turning 9-11 anniversary "into a partisan fight"; falsely claimed Bush never attacked Clinton terror policies
  
  Kristol: Democrats oppose Lieberman because he is "pro-American"; Coulter claimed Lamont supporters are "anti-American"
  
  Conservative pundits made wildly wrong claims about how Iraq would turn out -- what are they saying now about the Middle East?
  
  Kristol falsely claimed Bush "declassified most" of the NIE
  
  Kristol erroneously cited polls; falsely claimed that, since March, "no new information" Bush misled U.S. into Iraq
  
  Kristol called Britain a "happy ACLU playground" for both "decent dissidents" and terrorists
  
  After GOP source of Schiavo memo was confirmed, Hume, Kristol failed to acknowledge their roles in suggesting Democrats had authored it

Why would I buy a paper with this man's word in them?
Why would I even read your website?
What level does that leave the Times on?

I love David Pogue,
Nick Kristof
A.O. Scott
Frank Rich

and many other writers for the NYTimes, but I'd rather watch 2 Girls 1 Cup (for the love of God, do not research 2 girls 1 cup if you haven't seen it already) on repeat that read the shit he writes.

I can't wait for the Wire to tear apart the media this season. Sunday can't come soon enough.

But I got the first 2 episodes early... shhh

Holla at me while I watch David Simon will preach the gospel of America's failure that is become more apparent by the day.