Tuesday, November 6, 2001

Quote of The Day

War Reporters Used to Wear Raincoats - Now This

"A reporter for Japan's Kyoto News has bought her own toilet seat and can be frequently seen carrying it over her shoulder."

--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Democrat New York Mayoral candidate Mark Green tries not to hear word that he may be toast on election day.

Kittens With Whips: In a yearly promotion stunt based on whim, the Ladies' Home Journal has again picked the nation's most powerful women. All editors need to do this is lunch at LeCirque and the back of an overdue Bloomingdale's bill. What they never admit is that the truly powerful women in this country are raising the next generation. And, over a million women teach that generation at home.

Reality Check: Pulitzer Prize winning Dorothy Rabinowitz comments succinctly on our three big media icons and their need for a Come To Jesus session for their definitions of journalistic integrity: CNN honcho Wally Isaacson admonishing his troops not to side (too often) with the enemy; David Westin's pretzel logic over whether bombing the Pentagon was a cool thing to do and Tom Brokaw thinking the American flag is a Republican party symbol even though a Martian visitor might have thought so up until 9-11. We wish she would write more often

What A Difference A Year Makes: Incredibly, just a year ago today Al Gore barricaded himself in his dining room and reached out to everyone but PeeWee Herman for how he could make the election go his way. A new Gallup poll is out showing how people feel now and if one word describes the national mood about the outcome it would be "grateful," - with the possible exception of Joe Conason and Jeffrey Toobin who are still strapped to gurneys in some leafy sanitarium muttering, "Gore won. Gore won."

Fox Tale: Ellen Degeneres gave Fox a little shove in her opening Emmy remarks about their same-time broadcast of Game 7. Then Fox shoved back by scooping the Emmy winners in other time zones. Cute stuff and an example of what makes Fox such feisty fun. They make their own rules and their anchors wear flag pins -fair, balanced and most importantly, unafraid.

Single Story Monday: The only story to get any real attention yesterday was that of a feckless Nepalese 28 year old who attempted to get on a flight in Chicago with more weapons than his country's entire army possesses. He has now become the poster boy for airport security reform but we still don't know what he was doing. He said he wanted, like all of us, to protect himself. Surely there is more to the story. We'll just sit here with our guns and mace and wait.

Your Patient LComStaff