The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
The Metric System Is Confusing
“Indian Train Travels 980km in Wrong Direction . . . Without Any Rail Staff Noticing”–headline, Daily Mail (London), Sept. 21
Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate
“Because of an editing error, an article on Monday about Greece’s consideration of radical budget cuts to meet international lenders’ conditions for financial assistance misstated the effect of public sector layoffs on meeting deficit reduction targets. Reducing the number of civil servants would make it easier to meet such targets, not ‘add to the difficulty.’ “–New York Times, Sept. 21
Reliable Sources
From the Associated Press:
Obama administration officials are talking up open government, transparency and accountability, but are doing it anonymously in apparent contradiction of the goal.
Two senior officials briefed reporters on Monday on the eve of the unveiling of President Barack Obama’s Open Government Partnership, which seeks to promote responsible leadership and stewardship of natural resources around the world. But under rules set by the State Department, the officials could not be identified by name.
Reporters questioned whether the conditions of the briefing would meet the standard for the partnership but were told by a third senior anonymous official that the conditions were intended to prevent the president from being pre-empted at his own event.
This would be the funniest use of anonymous source ever, except one gets the sense that for once the reporter is fully in on the joke.
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
