It is early morning today Saturday, Valentine’s Day. I walk out the front door of my house to pick up the slightly moist plastic wrapper around my copy of today’s The Wall Street Journal. As I usually do with my newspaper, I pull the sections out, one by one, just to scan the headlines.
My Valentine’s Day surprise was not a teddy bear or a box of Godiva chocolates. No, sir, it was the front page of the Weekend Journal, a real type attack, if you will. Big sans serif caps with words like TAX CHEAT, SCANDAL, LIAR, DIET, SLEAZY, ETC.
No, no, this is not some sort of Murdochian love letter from the attic of News Corp’s tabloidy glory moments. It is a legitimate poster cover for an out of the ordinary story, one that could even be inspiring, if you will, on this special day of love and contemplation.
The story? Something like why focusing on human foibles is more therapetutic than getting mad at Wall Street, and why everyone should lighten up. I was waiting for a line sending us to the WSJ’s sister publication in the neighborhood, New York Post, where human foibles play out daily in 300-point, extra bold, sans serif headlines that shout. Today’s zinger: Lindsay Lohan’s Mom has Tax Troubles: She owes $11,485.74 in property taxes on her Long Island home, and the tax lien will be sold at public auction next week unless she pays up. Ironically, this story combines Wall Street economic blues with celebrity.
Back to the WSJ’s type attack. Good story by Joe Queenan.We all can get a respite from the string of bad economic news, not to mention trying to decypher the stimulus plan, by concentrating on Jessica Simpson’s weight gain, or Alex Rodriguez’ steroid use, or wondering if Angelina and Brad will become parents AGAIN.
In my view, however, the best piece in today’s Wall Street Journal is on the op ed page: Pegie Noonan’s thought-provoking column titled “Is ‘Octomom’ America’s Future?” , Noonan draws a comparison between pilot hero Sully Sullenberger, who landed his jet on the icy Hudson and managed to save all his passengers and crew, and Nadya Suleman, whom Noonan describes as a “dizzy, selfish, self-dramatizing 33-year-old mother of six” who had eight more because “she wanted to.” Noonan says that Sully and Suley represent two Americas. How right she is.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.
Recipe for forgetting economic crisis blues: read all about a parade of human foibles in the New York Post, for example
TheMarioBlog posting #193