Brian Gongol
(7.5.2005)
Martha Stewart's Prison Nickname was "M. Diddy"
Credited to a Vanity Fair interview. What's with that magazine? Suddenly trying to become relevant again with all these serious interviews?
(7.5.2005)
In Honor of Fallen Heroes
Sarcastic letter to the editor criticized low-flying F-16s. What the letter-writer didn't understand was that it was a flyby in honor of an Air Force officer who died in Iraq.
(7.5.2005)
Oh No! Now My Food is Unsafe!
Overreaction to Polk County's decision to end restaurant inspections. As if a market for information on which restaurants are clean and which aren't doesn't exist. Reminder to the world: Where legitimate concerns about health and safety exist, so do the means to regulate those things without government activity. Are the Mobil Travel Guide or the AAA hotel ratings run by the government? Does Fodor's have to run its rankings past the Department of Transportation first? Does the UL rating on your hair dryer require pre-approval from the Feds? Does Morningstar have to get the thumbs-up from the Department of the Treasury before rating stocks and mutual funds? No, no, no, no, and no again. Knock it off with the naivete.
(7.5.2005)
Goofy Communists -- Trade is for Kids!
Des Moines' alternative weekly Cityview goes all leftist on us with their cover story "(Not) Made in the USA" for the 4th of July holiday. Apparently the surplus of "Made in Mexico" and "Fabricated in Indonesia" tags on Stars-and-Stripes-themed clothing is enough to warrant a mocking fashion photo essay. Seems odd that they're bothered by cheap imported clothing from Honduras when the city in which they publish is one of the three insurance capitals of the world -- hardly a Rust Belt town. Apparently they miss the point that if more Iowans were working low-wage jobs making those patriotic threads, they probably wouldn't be able to make decent money in the insurance and financial sectors. But that requires a little subtlety of thought.
(7.5.2005)
Woman Claims to Live on Light, Air Alone
Three of her followers have died of starvation. Why nonsense pseudoscience needs to be stopped in its tracks.
(7.5.2005)
Chirac Slams Britain in Front of Putin, Schroeder: "You Can't Trust People Who Cook as Badly as That"
Naturally, the British aren't amused
(7.5.2005)
Cholera Still Kills 1,600 People a Year
Very little good reason exists for a simple waterborne disease to be killing people in 2005