use Perl

• up close and too personal? (Score:1)

  by jjohn (22)

  I've often wondered at the need to have battlefield reporting. Yes, reporters can be check against excessive military exuberance (they can also end up tools of propaganda for both sides). I know that I wouldn't do what these fools, that is battlefield reporters, do. That said, I find Rumsfield's reported callous attitude toward reporters deplorable. There is a very thin line between setting a clear policy (no reporters) and missing an opportunity to help an American (and taxpayer) in distress. Perhaps, CNN
  • Re:up close and too personal? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by pudge (1)

    Well, as a former journalist (though certainly not a war correspondent :-) my take is that journalists have no reason to expect help from any government, nor do they have any reason to be a target for any significant amount of sympathy or pity.
    
    That said, I am very grateful for the sacrifices they make. While they are not required to do what they do, and so willing and eagerly, they do help us out to a tremendous degree, being our eyes and ears, and deserve our gratitude when they do a good job (that would
• If it were anyone else reporting... (Score:2, Interesting)

  by rjray (1649)

  After chatting with a very politically-attentive friend at lunch about this story, I found out that Ted Rall has some credibility issues. He apparently is given to making claims and jumping to conclusions without a lot of supporting information. She pointed me towards the following recent stories:

  • http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020305/ap_on_re_as/afghan_re porter_injured_5 [yahoo.com]
  • http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020304/ap_on_re_as/afghan_me dia_1 [yahoo.com]

  This isn't t

  --
  

  --rjray
  • Re:If it were anyone else reporting... (Score:1)

    by pudge (1)

    I saw this comic from Ted Rall [ucomics.com] (he is a cartoonist as well as columnist) today that says that American widows of the terrorist attacks are uncaring money-grubbing whiners.
    
    I officially dislike Ted Rall.
    
    • Re:If it were anyone else reporting... (Score:1)

      by vsergu (505)

      Here [gizmosis.com] is someone's parody response to it and the fact that Rall is apparently suing someone for $1.5 million because of an e-mail prank.
• "reporter" (Score:2)

  by gnat (29)

  Yes, having seen Ted Rall's cartoon on WTC widows, I've decided he's a bunghole who can be safely ignored.

  Idea for a site: a database with an entry for every op-ed writer. The entry has two blurbs about their biases, one written by a friend and one by a critic. "Ted tells it how it is!" "Ted is a right-wing fuckwit who wants to prostitute war widows and sack the White House!" Figuring the truth is somewhere in the middle, you could get a feel for the lens through which that writer views the world.

  "