Western apologists who blame America for everything while routinely ignoring the sick cultural fixation on death and destruction among extremist elements of the Islamic world really need to check out this editorial from the Arab News:

The environment that produced such terrorism has to change. The suicide bombers have been encouraged by the venom of anti-Westernism that has seeped through the Middle East’s veins. … Those who gloat over Sept. 11, those who happily support suicide bombings in Israel and Russia, those who consider non-Muslims less human than Muslims and therefore somehow disposable, all bear part of the responsibility for the Riyadh bombs.

There is much in US policy to condemn; there are many aspects of Western society that offend — and where necessary, Arab governments condemn. But anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism for their own sake are crude, ignorant and destructive. They create hate. They must end. Otherwise there will be more barbarities.

Thanks for Andrew Sullivan for the link. Thanks to the Arab News for speaking the truth about this.

Toby had quite a day yesterday, and she’s telling the whole world about it.

She also remains confused about what she calls the “self-destruction” of the apartment. Little does she know, Becky and I are packing to leave Los Angeles forever! But, Toby will have a great time this summer in Buffalo. :)

Becky hasn’t been blogging as much as Toby, but she has weighed in on the New York Times scandal.

My parents’ plane seems to be making a beeline for the Four Corners. But, will they be able to see the big, intersecting black lines? :)

I just picked up a bouquet of flowers and a “congratulations” balloon sent by my Uncle John and Aunt Patty. Aww. :)

Meanwhile, my parents are 36,000 feet over southwestern Colorado, roughly an hour and half out of L.A.

Must pack…

This is about right:

“These descipable acts were committed by killers whose only faith is hate.” –George W. Bush

CORRECTION: Oops. Sean rightly points out that I actually butchered Bush’s English by misspelling “despicable.” Heh.

There’s nothing like seeing this headline on the New York Times front page two days before commencement:

Graduates Lowering Their Sights
In Today’s Stagnant Job Market

I guess that’s why I’m going to law school. :)

Gabriel Syme has a message to anti-war protesters: “The mass murders in Iraq have been stopped… but not in your name.”

Should Maureen Dowd’s head roll, too? Well, maybe not, but she and the Times certainly owe readers a correction of her blatant distortion of President Bush’s words, which she twists to make it seem like the president didn’t anticipate further Al Qaeda attacks like Monday’s Saudi bombing.

What Bush said last week:

Al Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they’re not a problem anymore.

What Dowd wrote in today’s paper:

Busy chasing off Saddam, the president and vice president had told us that Al Qaeda was spent. “Al Qaeda is on the run,” President Bush said last week. “That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated… They’re not a problem anymore.”

“It’s perfectly clear,” Andrew Sullivan correctly notes, “that the president is referring…only to those members of al Qaeda who are ‘either jailed or dead,’ not to the group as a whole” when he says “they’re not a problem anymore.” Sullivan calls Dowd’s quote-adjustment a “wilful fabrication.” He’s right.

My parents’ flight from Connecticut to Chicago landed early, and now their flight from Chicago to L.A. (for graduation, duh) is in the air over northwestern Illinois. It’s due to arrive at LAX in about 3 1/2 hours.

I’ve been busy packing and such, so that’s why I haven’t posted much to my blog… and why I still haven’t responded to my dad’s comments about Jayson Blair. But I couldn’t let this New York Post article pass without a mention:

One [reporter for the Times], who asked not to be identified, called Sunday’s article a “whitewash” of how management — particularly Raines and Boyd — allowed Blair to work over several years despite dozens of published corrections of his work.

Another staffer said “heads should roll… it happened on their watch and because of their watch.”

Heads should roll, eh? Hmm… where have I heard that before? Heh.

Andrew Sullivan seems to think that executive editor Howell Raines may be in real trouble:

Arthur Sulzberger… has a record of deferring to Raines when under pressure. But from what I’m hearing about the mood among Times reporters and editors, Raines is on the brink of being unable to effectively continue. Yesterday afternoon, as the backlash grew, the ruling triumvirate of Boyd, Raines and Sulzberger, abruptly canceled small meetings and announced a big “town hall meeting” to address the crisis for today at 2.30 pm. There are whispers of a work slowdown to force Raines out.

Meanwhile, on Monday night, David Letterman gave us the Top Ten Signs Something Is Wrong at The New York Times. (Number 4: Motto “All The News That’s Fit To Print” replaced by more trendy “Don’t Go There, Girlfriend.”)

UPDATE: The New York Daily News reports this morning:

The New York Times executive editor Howell Raines plans to enter the lion’s den today by holding a town hallmeeting where reporters and editors are expected to vent their anger about how he has handled the Jayson Blair scandal.

Several staffers described the newsroom situation as chaotic and suggested that some senior editors needed to be penalized for a catastrophic failure in management that has made all reporters’ work suspect.

I’d like to be a fly on the wall at that meeting.