...or are you less informed the more you read?

"George Bush...keeping the world safe for theocracy."

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Rupert Murdoch now owns the Wall Street Journal. It feels like Jimmy Swaggart just bought the Catholic Church or Timex now owns Rolex.



Well, what's done is done so let's try to paint some lipstick on this pig.

In a world where A&P, RCA, and Marshall Fields are just a memory, one could look upon the the purchase of Dow Jones as a rescue. Rupert Murdoch is a smart, crafty businessman who genuinely believes in the power of the printed word. He has promised to invest millions in the Dow Jones' products especially the on-line component. He may leave his fingerprints on the news product but how does that make him different from the Sulzbergers at The New York Times or the Grahams at The Washington Post? He could hardly make the editorial page any more conservative.



The previous ownership, primarily the Bancroft/Cox families, cared about their dividends...period. Their idea of investing in Dow Jones was placing a really nice plaque on the headquarters building at One Financial Center. Their stewardship of the company over the last forty years was a train wreck. The trail of missed and mangled opportunities stretches from New York to Cape Cod. They installed newsmen as executives resulting in the loss of good reporters without uncovering good businessmen. Had the family walked away from the News Corp offer, serious cutbacks in news reporting would have been inevitable. Advertising revenues could no longer support the family stipend. Somebody has to pay for resurfacing the tennis courts.



Mr. Murdoch may not be Edward R. Morrow, but he has the resources and brains to ensure that The Wall Street Journal won't be nickel and dimed into a print version of the AP wire service. Let's let Rupert run things for a while before we judge. If things go badly, they can always sell to Larry Flint.




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In its never ending race with Chicago and Singapore to become the world's most over-legislated city, New York has passed a new "Noise Ordinance."




Apparently unsatisfied with the noise law of 1972, New York has reinvigorated this perplexing issue with a plethora of new prohibitions, including: a curb on dog barking (thus adding new teeth to the admonition "Curb Your Dog"), an attempt to modify the construction racket (and I thought that the "construction racket" had to do with the mob and cement), and, horror of horrors, the muffling of the hallowed Mister Softee truck. Mr. Softee (if he has a first name he's never said) can no longer play his nostalgic, if slightly irritating ditty while the truck is parked. The bells on the Good Humor truck have been spared for the moment.




Next, New York will attempt to increase the distance between itself and New Jersey to minimize the din from the speakers at Springsteen concerts in the Meadowlands.




The spectre of New Yorkers buying trans fat-laden french fries from men in black coats in dark alleys is clearly not enough to keep the NYPD busy. The police will now have to make room on their utility belts for noise meters and stop watches.

Dogs are permitted to bark for no more than ten consecutive minutes during the day and five minutes at night. Who writes these laws, The Monty Pythons. One can only imagine a bleary-eyed city councilman arriving to work raving about the damn dog in his building that keeps him awake all night. "Somebody should pass a law!" And thus you have laws about bike messengers, roller bladers, jay-walking, poop-scooping, smoking, trans fats and now, noisy pooches. If you really want to reduce the obnoxious racket in New York, do something about Donald Trump.






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Protestors from throughout Europe descended on Pamplona, Spain last month to express their outrage that the "sport" of bullfighting is allowed to continue. This demonstration however, has a twist. If you've ever been to Florida or the Caribbean you know how eager Europeans are to take their clothes off. Well, that penchant has been extended to social protest. Many of the demonstrators in Pamplona are marching topless or naked. Do these folks know how to draw a crowd, or what?

One young lady said that people are drawn to the cause more readily if there is nudity. Duh! At least the men seem interested in the protest. Most don't know what the protest is about but they don't seem to care. Many were carrying signs that read, "Show us your commitments."

Perhaps Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul could invigorate their presidential campaigns with a little skin.



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As many of you know, isitjustme has never been a fan of organized religion. That antagonism has found a special outlet with regards to the Roman Catholic Church. This is your garden variety love-hate relationship. Having been raised an RC, I sang in the choir and was an unmolested altar boy. My issue has always been that Rome seems determined to drive folks away from the Church rather than inviting them in. The Vatican's war against "relativism" has positioned The Church in a race with Islam to return its faithful to the 14th century.



Nevertheless, the return to the Tridentine Mass (that's the Latin Mass for you philistines) is a wonderful idea and I can't wait to go. Pope Benedict XVI has decided that after almost 50 years of Mass in the vernacular, Catholics can now attend services in Latin without suffering liturgical whiplash.



For those among you that have never attended Mass in Latin, allow me to point out some of the blessings:





no guitars



minimal responses



no hand shaking

and

a merciful end to English hymns that sound suspiciously like really bad Broadway show tunes.



There is a little more kneeling and they still pass the collection plate but when you hear the Mass as interpreted by Mozart or Bach in Latin you will wonder why Pope John XXIII ever thought English or German would be an improvement. Maybe he just didn't like kneeling.

...or is GWB just doing what any good angler would do?

George W. Bush has learned a valuable if dangerous lesson, namely, that you can't fall off the floor. His approval ratings are so low that little harm would be done if he admitted ownership of the dog-fighting enterprise running out of Micheal Vick's Virginia home. Nothing short of a camping trip with OJ Simpson could reduce the President's popularity with the American people. Mr. Bush could develop a cure for cancer and be reviled for contributing to overpopulation.

With that fact in mind, Lonesome George felt perfectly comfortable commuting the prison sentence of Scooter Libby. I suppose that it could have been worse. He might have released Sirhan Sirhan or Charlie Manson. He could have pardoned John Allen Muhammad, the Washington sniper. He might have told Barry Bonds to forget about any potential perjury and drug charges and just play ball.

At the end of the day, Lewis Scooter Libby is a little fish. It seems only right that we throw him back. We wanted Rove. We wanted Cheney. (Oh, how we wanted Cheney!)We wanted one of those arrogant bastards that have been running America as though it were their own private grocery store. The level of disdain that this administration has shown for the rule of law is so egregious that even Nebraska is sick of it.

We now have a Vice President that actually believes that he can decide for himself what branch of government he belongs to and what laws apply to him. Christ, all Spiro Agnew did was take a little graft in Maryland! Even if there is some smoking gun (aside from the one he shoots old lawyers with) he would still have to be dragged into a courtroom. By the time Alberto Gonzales' Justice Dept. pulled their collective heads out of their asses it would be 2009 and Big Dick would be back at Halliburton stealing billions in defense contracts. Even his lesbian daughter's child couldn't crack his duplicitous public personae.

The real loser here, as always, the American system of justice. Whether you agree with this administration (all 31 of you) or not, every short cut, every wink and nod, every-get-out-of-jail-free card makes America just that much more cynical about our laws and our courts. Bill Clinton lies about Monica and, although tarnished, gets a pass. Ronald Reagan trades arms for hostages in violation of the law and gets a building and an airport named for him. George W. Bush lies us into a war where the death toll stands at 3,500 and suffers no more than a public relation black eye. No wonder Jon Stewart has to keep reminding people that his is not a real news show.

George Bush and his retinue of scoundrels are nevertheless prisoners of a sort. They can't appear at public functions these days because of the booing and the demonstrations. Mr. Bush was afraid to attend a Washington Nationals game because of the reception he was likely to receive. Tony Snow, the press secretary, wears a flack jacket.

So forget Scooter. He wasn't worth the bait to catch him. Whether he was going to spill his guts or not we'll never know. Maybe he'll write a book.

If you want to feel bad about something, repeat this phrase, " They've still got another 19 months in office".