Heroic Idiocy

Bill Keller of the Times demonstrates that being a fool is a full-time job. Let's start with the WaPo:

Former NYT editor Bill Keller and his wife under fire for commentary on cancer patient

Lesson No. 1: Publicly questioning the motives and intentions of a woman who is seriously ill with cancer can land you in a heap of controversy.

Writer Emma Gilbey Keller and her husband, former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, seem to have found this out over the past few days. In a successive pair of columns in different publications, the Kellers opined about the prodigious tweets of a woman named Lisa Bonchek Adams, a Stage IV breast cancer patient in New York — and both reaped a whirlwind of outrage in the process.

Ms. Adam is a 44 year old mother of three who has been grappling with cancer for seven years. For some reason this prompted Mr. Keller to contrast her situation with that of his eighty-year old father-in-law, who was told he had inoperable cancer and died six days later. One of his little life lessons:

It seemed to me, and still does, that there is something enviable about going gently.

Please. Maybe mom should have walked out in the traffic seven years ago.

Ms. Keller worried (in a column subsequently taken down because she quoted Ms. Adams without her permission) that although some seem to find inspiration this is all so voyeuristic. Me, I still have reservations about The Diary of Anne Frank. No I don't.

Well. Beat-downs are available in the Times comment section, by the Times Public Editor, and at Technology and Society. But in order to make sure that no dead horse is left behind, unbeaten, let me highlight this absurdity from Mr. Keller's target-rich piece:

Her relationship with the hospital provides her with intensive, premium medical care, including not just constant maintenance and aggressive treatment but such Sloan-Kettering amenities as the Caring Canines program, in which patients get a playful cuddle with visiting dogs. (Neither Adams nor Sloan-Kettering would tell me what all this costs or whether it is covered by insurance.)

I don't know what "all this" costs either, but the Caring Canines program is a charitable endeavor run in cooperation with Angels on a Leash and the Westminister Kennel Club so I'll guess "not much" for the direct costs of that part of the support program.

And while on the subject of our mutual ignorance, I don't know what it would cost to get Mr. Keller a fact-checker or a subscription to Bing. And later he might want to spring for a trip to the Wizard for a heart and a brain...

 

 

Comments

[daddy]

Cecil,

You're being too hard on this guy. He would have had to look at a total of 7 names to pick out if one of them was Sibel Edmonds. It is wrong of you to expect such attention to detail from this truth guy. Anybody looking at that list could uv' missed it.

F'er shame:)

Gene Betit, Arlington, VA
Sibel Edmonds, Alexandria, Virginia
Larry Johnson, Bethesda, Maryland
David MacMichael, Linden, VA
Ray McGovern, Arlington, VA
Coleen Rowley, Apple Valley, Minnesota
Ann Wright, Honolulu, Hawaii
Steering Group Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

[Ignatz]

-Why don't we hear Clarice saying that her being a "close personal friend" of Richard Perle did not constitute a "conflict of interest" that needed to be disclosed.--

We know who clarice is. Who are you and who are your friends and interests in this matter and what conflicts exist that we can't even gauge because you make demands and accusations anonymously?

[rich@gmu]

awesome new thread...

in re: colleges etc.

Some states are now posting more credible information (VA is the State Council for Higher Education) so students can compare incomes, costs, and degrees. For my degree program the ROI is surprisingly high. I suppose it comes down to the student making the most out of the time in school and then making the most after-ie, not turning down paid work,going out of the comfort zone (getting the hands dirty), and not turning it into a 6 year booze fueled sex romp.

more later...

[Truthbetold]

"We know who clarice is. Who are you and who are your friends and interests in this matter and what conflicts exist that we can't even gauge because you make demands and accusations anonymously?"

Ignatz

I'm not making demands. I am asking questions that should be very easy for Clarice to answer. And the comment board is giving non answers on her behalf.

Clarice Feldman writes for the American Thinker.

If Clarice feels that her friendship with Richard Perle did not constitute a "conflict of interest" it is for her to say. Not you.

Well Clarice?

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

narciso's link at 2:58 makes me think of this UK article that we commented on earlier this month - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2532869/They-no-idea-insurance-active-not-At-Virginia-hospitals-Obamacare-confusion-reigns-frustrated-patients-walk-out.html

"Galvez said she enrolled in a Carefirst Blue Cross bronze plan at a cost of about $450 per month through healthcare.gov, three days before Christmas.

'No one has sent me a bill,' she said."

Why in the world would she think she had coverage if she hadn't paid anything?

enrolled, paid, not paid, signed up, just went on the website & looked around...it is all a muddle. Numbers are being tossed around. Who knows...
It's all free anyway, isn't it?

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

here' narciso's link again - http://therightscoop.com/cms-official-we-dont-know-who-has-paid-their-obamacare-premiums/

[Truthbetold]

Maybe the comment board should read the PJ Media article that prompted Clarice Feldman's attack on Sibel Edmonds.

Treason at the State Department: A Whistleblower’s Story

http://pjmedia.com/blog/treason-at-the-state-department-a-whistleblowers-story/

[Danube on iPad]

"If Clarice feels that her friendship with Richard Perle did not constitute a 'conflict of interest"'it is for her to say."

Actually, it is for anyone to say, and I have said it and explained it. (I note that this fool now places quotation marks around the phrase.)

[Cecil Turner]

Ok I stand corrected.

Well, that's refreshing. Perhaps I judged you too harshly.

Is that the basis for you argument that Edmonds is not credible?

It's one of them. Another is the FBI IG report. Which, though generally sympathetic to her, documents several claims made by her that prove to be unsubstantiated. (They also highlight some claims by her that should've been investigated more thoroughly.) But the picture painted is of a contract employee of only a few months' experience, slinging accusations and being difficult/impossible to work with. (Which, incidentally, is what the endorsement points up, along with the undisputed security violations.) Her behavior since is more of the same: unsubstantiated allegations and security violations.

Maybe the comment board should read the PJ Media article that prompted Clarice Feldman's attack on Sibel Edmonds.

Already did . . . it's drivel. There's no reason to posit reporters being afraid of state secrets privilege (which is ridiculous, btw), when Occam's Razor suggests it's because of Edmonds's lack of credibility and evidence. (Which is what Clarice said in her "attack.")

[Truthbetold]

Danube

The quotation marks are around an accusation from an article.

But please continue, I never get tired of hearing how smart you are.

Clarice is Danube speaking for you?

[Well, I do know something about VIPS.]

Hmmmm, Sibel and the NSA whistleblower trashed in the same manner. New, unreliable, narcists.

[Cecil Turner]

The quotation marks are around an accusation from an article.

He's talking about the quotation marks around "conflict of interest" . . . which is all yours. And at least DoT has a clue what it means, which, so far, you have not demonstrated.

[Sumpin scary, I hope.]

Tbt, what do you know about the VIPS?

[Sumpin scarier, I hope.]

So tell me, Tbt, why do you think West got trashed?

[Danube on iPad]

One thing known about them is that certified nutball Larry Johnson is a member.

[Gotta have it right now.]

Yep, Sibel associating with Scary Larry puts her credibility in the dumps. Waiting for the 'Truth', though.

[Truthbetold]

Cecil

So PJ Media is drival, Sibel Edmonds lied under oath, Sen. Grassley lied, Glenn Fine who does not deny he knew Brewster Jennings cover was blown in 2001 is mistaken. And Dick Armitage blew Valerie Plame and Brewster Jennings cover in 2003 and kept it a secret until 2006.

That's the official story?

[Danube on iPad]

"The quotation marks are around an accusation from an article."

They're around the phrase "conflict of interest" in your 3:41 (as well they should be).

[Truthbetold]

Gotta have it right now

Why don't you go research how many times Edmonds name appears on VIPs letters.

And Cecil

I know "Conflict of interest" was the accusation in the article that has him all worked up

[boris]

"Why don't you go ..."

... away

[Threadkiller]

The news from Paul (BoE) feel pretty hard on me so I decided to hide out. I have absolutely nothing of help to say. It is amazing that a bunch of lousy pixles have actually created such a great family.

I hate it when shit happens to my family. God love you Paul. I sure do.

[Threadkiller]

Feel = fell.

[Danube on iPad]

This is great:

"Whistleblower, translator and expert in Chechnya, Turkey and the Caucuses, Sibel Edmonds, connects the CIA to the Boston Bombing. Is this blowback or terror by design? Edmonds examines connections between an Imam brought to the US by the CIA who subsequently became a multi-billionaire and founded over 350 radical mosques, Uncle Ruslan Tsarni and the CIA man in the Chechnya region for decades, Graham Fuller, father-in-law to Ruslan...."

[Danube on iPad]

"Why don't you go research how many times Edmonds name appears on VIPs letters."

Once will do just fine.

[Danube on iPad]

Free Republic:

"Edmonds and Ellsberg are also involved with VIPS, a more recent crop of nuts who attempted to undermine the war in Iraq, among them Ray McGovern, Larry Johnson , etc. VIPS is a front for the leftist 'Counterpunch' newsletter [known for comparing Bush to Hitler] and website run by Alexander Cockburn, a writer for the radical leftwing rag 'The Nation.' Cockburn's a bud of former congressman James Abourezk. Ray McGovern coordinates with Dennis Kucinich. One of his VIPS members is William Christison, who is a backer of Urgent Call along with Noam Chomsky, an old Pol Pot apologist."

[Even if you have something, the technique raises hackles.]

Bah, Tbt objects to unresponsive answers, and then tells me to go research the VIPS.
===========

[C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, Babee.]

Well, I understand that you are not coming from the Left. Why do you think West was trashed?

[Cecil Turner]

What is your point?

A question rather more profitably asked of oneself in this instance.

And if you're relying on Sibel Edmonds as a source, I'd advise getting some corroborating evidence. Her unsupported testimony is . . . unpersuasive.

[Danube on iPad]

"What is your point?"

That Sibel Edmonds is a nut who consorts with nuts.

I have no idea from what direction you are coming, and couldn't care less. Your assertion that Clarice Feldman has a conflict of interest because of a friendship with Richard Perle is cuckoo.

[So let it out, honey.]

You fail to understand that Clarice has a great deal of credibility on this board and you have none. Playing games is not improving your credibility.

[Lazybusy]

Long,long time lurker, still surprised how news of a JOMer can break my heart.
Paul you were on top of my list of the people here I'd like to meet personally.
I can see how the old saying "better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all" applies to you

[Truthbetold]

Cecil

Clarice knows the point.

[Olympic class games. Where's the beef?]

Apparently she ain't tellin' and neither are you.

[Which for you?]

It's insinuation, and in my experience that flows from inability or lack of desire to say it.