Notes Upon Reading the Express

The Express is a free newspaper here in D.C. that you can pick up on your way into a metro station and read on the train. It contains ads, one-paragraph summaries of the biggest news, more ads, lots of little factoids and “news of the weird” type stuff, still more ads, and pages and pages of ads disguised as “information” about celebrities, tv-shows, movies, music, and crap for you to buy. It's published by the Washington Post and it has a more right-leaning competitor in The Examiner.

So anyway, yesterday's paper contained this real gem on page 8 I just couldn't pass up passing on:

“It is the government's job to deal with the hungry; we, the traders, are here for business.” —Ibrahim Bay, Millet Trader, on the high prices of food in Niger as the country faces a severe famine.

Oh yeah, I love free trade. And capitalism. It's a good thing that “the chief business of the American people is business.”

The Express also tells me that Gary Cole, aka “Bill Lumberg,” is going to play a tough cop on a new TNT show called “Wanted.” Don't get me wrong; I think Mr. Cole is a fine actor and I've enjoyed his performances in many things, but, well, a tough cop? Mmyeah.

Posted August 4, 2005 08:13 AM | life generally