Tuesday News Roundup

Mixed bag over at the SE this morning, but some stuff truly worth reading.

By Curmudgeon

First this:

"Cong. Bishop Says He Never Believed Bush on Iraq War".

Well, OK, that's not what the headline said, but it's what the story said. Bishop visited the SE editorial board for a "free wheeling" 90 minute discussion, during which he told the SE that "he never did buy the argument that weapons of mass destruction were the real reason the US went to war in Iraq." The real reason was Saddam Hussein was a bad man.

Mr. Bishop's trenchant analysis of the President's claim about WMDs as a reason to invade Iraq: "if we were really concerned about weapons of mass destruction, we really should have been bombing France." That was your Congressman speaking, folks. And he wants you to re-elect him.

By the way, Bishop now claims that had he been in Congress when Bush asked Congress to authorize him to invade Iraq, he --- Bishop --- would have voted "no." Sure. Right. One of the most notorious Bush Bobble Heads in the House, nodding 'nay' or 'yea' docilely as his party handlers decreed, would have voted "no" to Bush's war. And he thinks the war was handled incompetently by Bush. And he says now he favors a hard and fast deadline for Iraqi government reform, and a "sudden" removal of all US forces if they fail to meet the deadline. Rob Bishop said that? [Is he running as Democrat this time? Bush lied; the war was bungled by administrative incompetence; we should have a firm deadline for getting out. Has he endorsed Obama?] My god, the Republicans must really be scared. Bishop's astonishing interview can be found here. Going to be very interesting to see if the SE Board bought Mr. Bishops revisionist tap-dance. If they did, I have this bridge in Brooklyn I can let them have for a very reasonable price. Cash only. Small unmarked bills please.

Then there's a story on the Top of Utah page, reporting that the Council and Mayor are about to discuss Ogden City goals and objectives. The discussion will include Malan's Basin development, which means I'm willing to bet, gondolas, gondolas, gondolas. As usual, Mr. Peterson, the presumptive developer of a proposed Malan's Basin mini-ski resort and Tyrolian Fantasy was unavailable for comment. The Council and Mayor will also discuss trolleys, buses and ways to move Ogden forward, improve recreational opportunities, and so on. Stay tuned.... The article can be found here.

Finally, there is on the front page an example of pretty shoddy journalism. The story is about police capturing two convenience store bandits, one male, one female, in Woods Cross after a chase. The reporter is Jesse Fruhwirth. The forth paragraph of the story is this, in its entirety:

"The woman [arrested] garnered at least one whistle and several smiles from a road crew across Redwood Road as a female officer frisked her after the chase ended."

Where the devil was Mr. Fruhwirth's editor? The SE has a new news editor. Where did the paper find him? The NY Post? Has Rupert Murdoch bought the SE without letting us know? What will the headline be next time? Babe Bandit a 10, Gawking Construction Workers Say .

Not good work, guys. Not good at all.