Tuesday, January 24, 2006

When Nouns Attack...

I'm no fan of Bill Heuisler (and not much of the guy he's criticizing, either), but this line is one of the best literary put-downs I've ever seen in a political fight:
He has an absolute infestation of adjectives and very few nouns. The adverbs gallop on empty fields and his borrowed opinions masquerade as facts. Pity the vast loneliness and affected scorn; like the Wiz behind his curtain, they mask an outcast.
The original article is a self-pitying self-fulfilling screechy thing, but his heart's in the right place.

Another wonderful bit from alhamedi
Prince Saud pointed out that in 2004, 53 percent of terrorist incidents around the globe occurred outside the Middle East.

That's what is called "spin". You are meant to think that most of the world's terrorism takes place somewhere other than the Middle East. So it does, just. But the thing about spin is that you can spin in two directions. Let's spin the other way. How about the Middle East, with 2% of the world's population, accounts for 47% of the world's terrorism? Isn't that something to be proud of? Funny thing, spin.
He then goes on to quiz his readers on which anti-semitic passages come from Mein Kampf and which ones from current Saudi textbooks. Ouch.

Avedon Carol, meanwhile, thinks that this administration is the problem.

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