Well, OK, that’s a headline that I could put up almost every day, or several times a day, based on the current growth rate.

But the little discussion between me, Jeff Jarvis, Bill Quick, Jackson Murphy (not to mention blog nobility Andrew Sullivan) on whether or not media bias is fact or fiction has brought another one out of the woodwork.

From his website:

The Media Minder is a copy editor at one of America’s largest daily newspapers. He has over 12 years of experience in print journalism, including stints at newspapers both small and large. He has been a reporter, but has focused on copy editing almost exclusively for the past eight years. Because the Minder posts a lot from work, he wishes to remain anonymous.

Well, I guess we know that it’s a “he.” That narrows down the mystery a little…

Well, OK, that’s a headline that I could put up almost every day, or several times a day, based on the current growth rate.

But the little discussion between me, Jeff Jarvis, Bill Quick, Jackson Murphy (not to mention blog nobility Andrew Sullivan) on whether or not media bias is fact or fiction has brought another one out of the woodwork.

From his website:

The Media Minder is a copy editor at one of America’s largest daily newspapers. He has over 12 years of experience in print journalism, including stints at newspapers both small and large. He has been a reporter, but has focused on copy editing almost exclusively for the past eight years. Because the Minder posts a lot from work, he wishes to remain anonymous.

Well, I guess we know that it’s a “he.” That narrows down the mystery a little…

Well, OK, that’s a headline that I could put up almost every day, or several times a day, based on the current growth rate.

But the little discussion between me, Jeff Jarvis, Bill Quick, Jackson Murphy (not to mention blog nobility Andrew Sullivan) on whether or not media bias is fact or fiction has brought another one out of the woodwork.

From his website:

The Media Minder is a copy editor at one of America’s largest daily newspapers. He has over 12 years of experience in print journalism, including stints at newspapers both small and large. He has been a reporter, but has focused on copy editing almost exclusively for the past eight years. Because the Minder posts a lot from work, he wishes to remain anonymous.

Well, I guess we know that it’s a “he.” That narrows down the mystery a little…

Megan McArdle notes, in reference to a post about Argentina:

TNR describes the social chaos in Argentina. It all boils down to this one delicious quote (from a taxi driver, of course; P.J. O’Rourke says that all third world taxi drivers are under contract to UPI to provide memorable quotes)…

It’s not just a third-world deal–I get good info from them even in the first world (i.e., between my house and LAX). This reminds me that about a week before 911, I flew down to San Juan from LA, and since I was going to be gone for longer than I wanted to pay parking, and the flight was too early in the morning for the bus, I took a cab. When I got in, I heard music from his cassette that sounded vaguely Persian. I asked the driver, and he said that it was.

“Are you Iranian?”

“No, I’m from Afghanistan, but the music is very similar.”

Oh.

“So, how long have you been in America?”

“About twelve years. We left in 1979 when the Russians invaded, and went to Germany. Then I came here.”

“Do you think that the Taliban will remain in power?”

He was surprised at this question. I suspect that most of his fares couldn’t find Afghanistan on a map of Afghanistan.

“No, sir. The people are very unhappy. They may last a month, they may last a year, but they will not be there long.”

“But you like Persian music. I assume that you must be Pashtun. The Taliban are Pashtun. What’s the problem?”

Now he’s really weirded out.

“They are Pashtun, but they do not have the support of the Afghan people, in the west or the north. They rule by force and cruelty alone. They are not acting in the interest of Afghanistan.”

About this time, we were pulling up to the terminal. In retrospect, it might have been instructive to continue the conversation, but who knew…?

A friend of mine has a theory about third-world unrest. He claims that you can tell what country will be the next trouble spot, by counting ethnic restaurant openings (by expatriots), particularly in DC, as a leading indicator.

The last time I flew, when I went to St. Louis, the driver was from Bangladesh. But that’s another story…

While reading a piece in Opinion Journal about the Taliban destruction of Afghanistan’s artwork, I ran across this, which is apparently describing a real place.

The Argh Palace here bears some of the worst scars of the frenzy to obliterate.

First the crack suicide squads, then the Taliban blustering with its limbs cut off, and now this.

(Remember the scene where Eric Idle was reading the last words scrawled on the wall in the cave, in The Holy Grail, after fighting off the killer rabbit with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch?

“He wouldn’t have written ‘arrrrgggghhh.'”

“Maybe he was dictating.”).

Life and this war continue to imitate Monty Python.

I was going to respond to Jeff Jarvis’ latest denial of media bias, but Jackson Murphy did it at least as well, and probably better, than I would have.

[Update at 1 PM PST]

I see that Bill Quick has also ably dissected Jeff’s confusion on the subject of media bias. Keep floggin’ those strawmen, Jeff!

We haven’t found Osama or the Cyclops yet, but here’s something better. The true evil genius behind Al Qaeda, Bert, has been captured and jailed. Based on the URL of the link, the SAS must have gotten him.

[Update at 11:33 PM PST]

I’m informed by an unreliable source that he was actually captured by MI6 and Austin Powers. Judge for yourself–it looks like a phaked photo to me…

With apparent government complicity in Tehran, Al Qaeda are slipping into Iran (and Pakistan, which we already knew), according to this article in today’s Christian Science Monitor. Perhaps we should not worry about Somalia, or even Iraq, for now, and go after the next possible domino in Tehran. It’s probably got the most potential for a pro-western government of all the current middle eastern dictatorships, and its situation on the border of Afghanistan, where our enemy is fleeing, makes it a more immediate next war aim.

There’s more interesting information about Jihad Johnnie, in this Las Vegas Sun article. It’s pretty clear that no one ever taught this kid how to think, or that thinking was important. And his parents should be condemned for subsidizing this nonsense.

The latest Opinion Dynamics Poll is out at Fox News. It’s mostly good news for the Republicans–other than the environment, health care, and social security, they have the confidence of the poll respondents. On military affairs it’s overwhelming–only 16% would trust the Democrats more. So unless they can make those three issues the dominant ones this year, hopes for taking back the House (and maybe even retaining the Senate) look dim for them right now.

But the worst near-term news for the Dems is that it looks like a majority sees through the demagoguery.

35. Do you agree or disagree with those who say Democrats would rather use the economic downturn as an election issue than work to improve the economy?

Agree: 52%

Disagree: 30%

Not Sure: 18%

I think that Plurality Leader Daschle is playing a losing hand here…