Jack Kelly Sunday

Not much to say about Jack Kelly's column this week.

Though he starts with what looks like a joke but is actually a media cliche:

All of us are brothers under the skin. All of we humans (except, of course, for conservatives and AIG executives) have good hearts and want basically the same things. Disputes between nations and cultures are chiefly the result of miscommunication and can be resolved by compromise, concession and "dialog."

See the joke about how conservatives aren't human? Glenn Greenwald calls it what it is:

The predominant attribute of the right-wing movement is self-victimizing petulance over the unfair treatment to which they are endlessly and mercilessly subjected.

There is a deeper rhetorical device going on here however: sarcasm. Jack explains it in the very next paragraph:

That's a pleasant thing to believe, and many Americans -- mostly wealthy liberals who've led sheltered lives -- believe it. But to sustain the belief requires a stupendous ignorance of history, whose blood-soaked pages reveal that more disputes between nations and cultures have been driven by greed, envy and religious zealotry than by miscommunication.

Note the class warfare mockery. Classy touch, Jack.

In any event, Jack's got a bit of a sleight of hand going on here, doesn't he? While I am not among those who say that communication or diplomacy will solve every conflict (as nice as that thought is), I don't know anyone who says so.

Aw geez, I guess we gotta do it AGAIN. Take a look at the next paragraph:

"War start from Adam when Cain he killed Abel until now," said Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, once al-Qaida's No. 3, as he confessed proudly last month his role in planning the 9/11 attacks and 30 others. "It's never gonna stop killing of people. This is life." [emphasis added]

Jack wrote "last month." Too bad that a simple google search shows that the transcript of the hearing is dated March 10, 2007 (scroll down to the bottom of page 24).

THAT'S MORE THAN TWO YEARS AGO.

And so I have to ask the question AGAIN. This time I'll ask it in big bold red letters so the good folks on the Boulevard of the Allies can read it clearly:

Doesn't anyone at the P-G fact check Jack Kelly?

A columnist has a column in the Sunday edition of the paper and no one over there flag such an obvious error? C'mon guys! This is embarrassing - don't you think?

Not only that, but take a look at that section of the transcript Kelly's quoting (page 24):

War start from Adam when Cain he killed Abel until now. It's never gonna stop killing of people. This is the way of the language. American start the Revolutionary War then they starts the Mexican then Spanish War then World War One, World War Two, You read the history. You know never stopping war. This is life. [emphasis added.]

Notice something? I put in italics the words between "...killing of people." and "This is life." that Jack for some reason omitted. Granted, it doesn't change the meaning of the text much, but it's still incorrect.

For a major newspaper (or even a minor one) this is yet another blunder. And this is just the first four paragraphs.

Do I need to go any further?