Friday Is Trash Day
There was an episode on The West Wing that was entitled “The Friday Night Trash”, or something to that effect. The title referred to a practice in Washington, DC of releasing “bad news” at the end of the day on a given Friday. That way it is reported on Saturday when hardly anyone is paying attention, and by Monday whoever released the information can speak of it as old news…
This afternoon happens to be a Friday heading into the Labor Day weekend. Most of the movers and shakers in Washington, DC are either on the beach in nearby Delaware, or on Cape Cod, or perhaps in Maine. Of course there are a few who are on fact-finding missions in Italy, and Hawaii and so forth as well.
So, they will probably miss this report from the Pentagon about the deteriorating situation in Iraq entitled “Measuring the Security and Stability in Iraq”. Too bad. A good read. Lots of violence (attacks up 50%). Death squads and insurgents (“potent and viable”). Also, looks like Al Qaeda is still powerful in spite of the loss of its local boss.
Here is the report in the NYT with a link to the PDF of the report.
Update on Saturday's newspaper coverage:
Paper of Record: Front Page
Chicago Tribune: Nada, but they do have a headline about Tom Cruise’s apology to Brooks Shields
Philadelphia Inquirer: Front Page
Washington Post: Front Page
SF Chronicle: Nada, but “hairy and chubby gay men” seem to be hip… or is it hop?
LA Times: Nada, but there is an article about a local fundamentalist minister who want to convert “generations of the post-modern age”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Nada, but we were saddened to learn that Jessica Simpson's voice is not 100% yet.