Sluggo Needs a Nap

“I read the book [My Life by Bill Clinton] completely.
and I think it compares very favorably with Ulysses S.
Grant’s gold standard of presidential autobiographies.”
— Dan Rather on CNN’s Larry King Live, June 18, 2004

When Chesler pointed out that Israel was not an apartheid
state, and that IDF soldiers were not Nazis, a small group of
students "spontaneously" disagreed. Their voices were loud
enough to silence Chesler for a moment. The moderator told
the group that if they were going to cause a disturbance, they
would have to leave. The students then pasted pre-printed
Kinko’s-quality packing stickers over their mouths, on which
"Silenced by the David Project." was printed.

Dutch blogger Zacht Ei translates part of an article from
Nederlands Dagblad by veteran war reporter Harald Doornbos:

'Be careful not to get kidnapped,' I told the female Italian
journalist sitting next to me in the small plane that was headed
for Baghdad. 'Oh no,' she said. 'That won't happen. We are siding
with the oppressed Iraqi people. No Iraqi would kidnap us.'

It doesn't sound very nice to be critical of a fellow reporter. But
Sgrena's attitude is a disgrace for journalism. Or didn't she tell me
back in the plane that 'common journalists such as yourself' simply
do not support the Iraqi people? 'The Americans are the biggest
enemies of mankind,' the three women behind me had told me,
for Sgrena travelled to Iraq with two Italian colleagues who hated
the Americans as well.

With her bias Sgrena did not only jeopardize herself, but due to
her behavior a security officer is now dead, and the Italian
government (prime minister Berlusconi included) has had to spend
millions of euros to save her life. It is to be hoped that Sgrena will
decide to have a career change. Propagandist or MP perhaps.
But she should give up journalism immediately.

August 20, 2004: Joe Piscopo, New Jersey governor?
(CNN) -- He played a number of notables -- David Letterman,
Frank Sinatra -- on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1980s, but
Joe Piscopo is now thinking of a completely different kind of role:
governor. The actor and comedian has been asked by some
people to consider a run in his home state, New Jersey.
CNN "American Morning" anchor Bill Hemmer talked
to Piscopo about the possibilities.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: He considers himself
a lifelong Democrat, self-described Jersey guy, but is
comedian Joe Piscopo serious about trying to replace
Jim McGreevey as governor in that state? He often paid
homage to the Garden State while on "Saturday Night
Live" back in the 1980s. And Jersey Joe our guest today
not in New Jersey, but in Orlando, Florida, to talk about
the "Draft Piscopo" movement. And, Joe, good morning
to you, and thanks for your time. Is this serious, by the way?

JOE PISCOPO, ACTOR, COMEDIAN: Well, you know,
I had some serious people talk to me, Bill. We're very
concerned about the state, and the -- you know, I wrote
the jokes 20 years ago, but now it's almost not funny the
way Jersey's getting hit. I'm reading The Wall Street
Journal and ... these national publications, USA Today,
saying the problems we have in Jersey. So the people
that came to me and asked me to run, they're serious.

HEMMER: Joe, what can you tell us about the people
that approached you? Who are they? How strong backing
do they have?

PISCOPO: You know what, [they're] young businessmen,
and I talked to them yesterday. It was so funny, I said,
come on, guys, you got to let everybody know who you
are. And they say, like, no, we stay in the background,
Joe, you know, we believe in you, and we're friends
enough where I'm not beholden to anybody. So they're
like young, very concerned New Jersey citizens.
Because, see, in Jersey, we are so proud of the state. I've
got to tell you, not just because the great Bruce Springsteen
is from there, and Frank Sinatra, and Bruce Willis, and
Jack Nicholson, and Danny DeVito, and Shaquille O'Neal
born in Newark. I mean, we have so much to offer in this
state, that as we're citizens and we go through our
everyday lives back in Jersey, and then we see this ...
stuff that's happening now. These guys [who] came to me,
they really want to make a change.

To the Editor:

In trying to refute one of the arguments of Lawrence H.
Summers, Harvard's president, for the paucity of women
in the higher echelons of mathematics and engineering
departments, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm
apparently commit their own Summers-like gaffe.

They wrote that "athletic talent or musical genius may
be gifts of the gods (or genes)." I thought that athletic
excellence and virtuosity in performance required years
of intense, dedicated practice, just as scientific knowledge
requires years of college and beyond. The genes or the
gods alone are hardly sufficient.

Frank Brady
Brookville, N.Y., March 1, 2005
The writer is an associate professor of
education, Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus

I thought being even an associate professor of education means that you know how to read a simple sentence. Talent is to excellence as genius is to virtuosity, but the regimen Mr. Brady describes defines the difference between them. They're not really the same things.

For those with high school seniors in the house I need to point out that this is the second letter from the faculty of the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University we've needed to deal with in the past week.