Bin Laden Was Funny Before He Wasn't

Mike Luckovich is a syndicated political cartoonist who works for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. This year he decided to post a collection of cartoons he has drawn over the years at Christmas time. I have no idea why he included this one from 1999, 2 years before the horrific attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Maybe he was just trying to prove he has some sort of latent Nostradamus talent.


Not much sense getting all worked up into a lather over this particular cartoon, since one, it was drawn before the tragic events occurred and it is now 10 years old. I just found it eerie that he would include it in a collection of his cartoons.

Looks Like One Newspaper Is Waking Up

My local paper is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, often referred to as the NY Times of the south. In an attempt to respond to complaints of media bias they are making a very overt attempt at convincing people that they are ready to change their ways. Recently they held a cattle call for a full time conservative columnist.

In interest of full disclosure I did apply for the opening. I never expected to get the job since I don't have a journalism background, but thought it would be interesting to go through the vetting process and see what kind of feedback I could get. The application was rigorous, well for me anyway, since they asked for examples of investigative reporting you had done as well as asking for samples of your previous writings and at the end they had you write a 5000 word column on a subject they chose.

Well I didn't make the cut, which they have narrowed down to 10 right now with readers encouraged to read what the finalists submitted and vote on. The interesting part was that while I was turned down, they told me my answer to the question what is a conservative was interesting and they may be in contact with me in the future. So it wasn't a total loss.

Anyway they have at least admitted to bias albeit they claim it is in their editorial pages and not so much their news reporting, they are willing to take a look at the perceived problem and address it.

Now … let me discuss the issue that generated the most questions and comments to our publisher. Some readers believe we do a good job of being fair in our coverage and providing a balance of opinions. A few think we’re too conservative. But many more believe that our editorial pages are too liberal and that bias seeps into our news coverage. We have heard you on the bias issue and are taking deliberate steps to address this.

We will see.

Alert the PC Police

I don't even know how they reported this story without getting sued. I of course am adding some commentary.

A 22-year-old Atlanta man, distraught over not passing a high school equivalency test, committed suicide late Friday morning by jumping from the balcony of an 11th-floor apartment in Midtown, police said. [ed.- So he failed a GED test and killed himself]

The man, whose name was not made public Friday afternoon, had also been upset because he believed his boyfriend was more intelligent than he, Atlanta police Lt. Keith Meadows said. [ed. - Boyfriend?? Uh Oh notify the GLBT coalition, there had to be more then just failing a test]

The man and his boyfriend were talking in the apartment they shared in the Plaza Midtown condominium building when the man got a strange look on his face, walked onto the balcony and jumped, Meadows said. [ed.- The Midtown area of downtown Atlanta is the playground of the rich and famous. How was a non high school grad able to afford an apartment, er excuse me a condo which probably rents for between 100K - 1 million a year?]

He landed on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant in the building, which is in on West Peachtree Street north of 8th Street. [ed. - That can't be good for business]

The man had been living in the condo with his boyfriend since shortly after moving from Mexico in December, authorities said.[ed. - Mexico? Oh no now we have the open borders crowd to deal with]

So in one fell swoop we have a gay, Mexican, non high school grad who was obviously the boy toy of some rich dude flinging himself off of a balcony and ruining some folks breakfast.
I wonder how nervous the guy was writing this story. Probably the newest hire on the staff.