WHY IS IT THAT...
...when the Jayson Blair scandal erupted, some people reflexively attributed it the New York Times diversity policy (Blair is black) but when Mike Barnicle was fired from The Boston Globe for repeated instances of fabrication, Barncile’s status as a white male wasn’t an issue?

...many of the conservatives who demanded that anti-war people shut up and blindly support the president in Iraq among Pres. Clinton's most vicious opponents in Kosovo? Why is it some of them abhorr any anti-war person "disrespecting" the president (and by extension, in their minds, the troops and the country) but used equally hostile language in referring to Clinton?

...some parts of the African intelligentsia who’d raged at our conquest of Iraq are now insisting that we intervene to stop the war in Liberia due to our “historical links” to that country?

...people in the west still think that all Africans are interested is getting foreign aid handouts when countless African presidents and cabinet ministers say it is far more important for their countries’ development to lower western trade barriers and subsidies?

...the Democrats think that whether Bill Gates’ estate should pay the death tax is so critically important they must scream from the rooftops but whether the president imposes a dangerous and radical foreign policy merits little comment and whether the attorney general scraps the Constitution he (and Congressmen) are sworn to defend is not a big deal?

...that George Steinbrenner took so long to attack Joe Torre? Steinbrenner’s been fairly quiet since the beginning of Torre’s reign and the manager has replied by winning 5 pennants and 4 world series’ titles in 7 years. There was a great sigh of relief in Red Sox-land about the recent Boss’ latest outburst. The equation over the last 20+ years is pretty straight-forward. George opens his mouth = Yanks don’t win. George behaves = Yanks win. We Boston fans thank you George. Your restraint had us worried.

...soccer’s Toyota Cup is referred to by the European media as the World Club Championship even though it involves only the European and South American champions? And Europeans think Americans are presumptuous when the NFL, NBA and MLB winners refer to themselves as “world champions.” The answer is because some people in the soccer world don’t realize that the sport is played outside Europe, Brazil and Argentina.