To be a journalist in Washington is to live one's life surrounded by men who have never driven 110 mph, never spent a night in jail, and never won a fist-fight in their lives.Yes, he's talking about Washington journalists, but are our local lot any better?
The upper echelons of American journalism have become the exclusive monopoly of former teacher's pets, who as children were never sent to the principal's office, who as teenagers were never suspended for showing up drunk for chemistry class, who as college students never woke up at 6:30 a.m. on the porch of the ATO house, who never played in a rock band or sold a pound of weed or dove from a 50-foot cliff into an abandoned rock quarry.
Hat tip here to Tim Blair, who reckons he scores five out of ten on the "anti-wuss qualifications." If we take a bit of poetic license (it was Engineering Mechanics, not Chemistry), I make seven -- but I have no idea what an ATO House is. :-)
What's your score? Be as honest as you have to.
11 comments:
I have never jumped off a cliff or been in a fist fight due to my haemophilia, and have never been to University...but score 6/10
An excellent survey! ha ha!
Hmmm, five of nine. 'ATO house' is probably a frat house, I reckon.
DenMT
(PS Simply marvellous to see you are posting again Elijah - any news on the proof for that donation to the Greens? You never emailed me - davedrawslines@gmail.com - I'm not going to let this one go, old chum.)
I want to know about that 0.5, Shane.
Did you wake up at 7:30 on someone's porch?
[And best you flick that stuff through, Elijah. Den's a good chap when you get to know him -- well, apart for his party affiliation of course -- and he doesn't deserve the run around. :-) ]
What is the 10th point? I counted again, and only got to 9...
DenMT
ATO - most likely alpha tau omega, the letters for a (no doubt notorious) frat house, as Den said.
Peter, there are a couple of .5's - and probably a 1.5, having woken up in various places, states and circumstances which would perhaps make a porch seem a safe choice (a roof, a bus - wearing womens clothing - you know, the usual.
Never spent a night in jail, but did have the bejabbers scared out of me when detained for driving without a license (age 14 - had a DJ business to run). Certainly worked - stopped DJ'ing.
At the risk of conducting an 'animal farm confessionary', I might have different benchmarks...
Ahh fuck, I'm sure the local labour-infested scribblers drink far more far more often than the Washington types.
But really he's missing the point: the question is: how many of 'em ever voted ACT or Libz? Answer none. How many habitually voter Labour/Greens - the lot of 'em. And that's the problem.
Even the Guardian has interviews with David Cameron, and of course all the work of the UK scandal has been done by the Torygraph. No surprises there.
Frankly if there are non-drinking, non-smoking, never been arrested, Liberty University graduates (where being a Democrat is now banned! yay!!) who are writing from a position arguing personal responsibility - not leftism or crypto-leftism on rights and all that french shit - then that's what's neeeded!
Yes, DenMT seems a nice chap.
Shall dig out the receipt and resend it [yet again] to him...(he may like to take note of the date on it)..shall get it scanned later today.
Elijah, stop bullshitting. Just admit to DenMT that you never sent a bank check to the Green Party after the election, which you promised. What are you afraid of?
DenMT
Thought you didn't want your beting affair played out in public...
Hypocrit!
LGM
Hey Elijah
Put a stop to this crap.
DenMT has been bashing you all around the show with the idiotic bet you attached your word to. He'll keep bashing you because he can. He has the advantage over you and he is exercising it. He is not your friend. He is not a "nice chap" to be joshed and jollied along, pretended to, fooled, fibbed to or greased up to etc. He is your creditor and you are his past due debtor. He will keep at you because he does not like you (aside from anything else, people tend not to like past due debtors very much). Right now you are in an inferior position. You are trapped. Your reputation is wrecked and your word is degraded. This will drag on and get worse until you get this affair properly sorted.
Your options are:
1/. Pay DenMT in full immediately.
2/. Give the money to PC immediately.
3/. Keep the money and say why you have decided to so do.
Paying $ to the Greens is not on. They are a bad pack and you should not be doing anything to assist them. Shame on DenMT for requesting you send them any money and shame on you if you do. Giving the $ to PC for the upkeep of his site is a better approach. That way you can state you parted with the money but couldn't allow it to be turned to an improper use.
If you do decide not to pay out at all, you better have a good reason and state it openly. That option is going to earn you opprobrium from all over the show. People won't forget and the damage you'll incur will be serious and remain permanent (or, at least, be remembered for a very long time).
You are best advised to bring this silly affair to an immediate conclusion by exercising option one or option two.
LGM
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