A dispatch from San Francisco in the national section of today's New York Times refers to "the 49ers owner, Eddie Bartolo Jr." This is a mangling of the man's name, which is Edward DeBartolo Jr.
A graphic that runs alongside the same Times article labels a San Francisco neighborhood at "The Filmore." The article, at least, spells that one correctly, as the Fillmore.
Plumping for Pyongyang: A news article in the international section of today's New York Times reports, "Alone among modern nations, North Korea has remained frozen in a Stalinist system that all but demonizes outsiders and enemies and draws its strength from a personality cult -- in this case for Mr. Kim and his father." The North Korean system doesn't "all but" demonize outsiders and enemies; it does demonize them. And it's not clear exactly what "strength" the Times is referring to when it says the system draws its "strength" from a personality cult. The CIA's World Factbook reports of North Korea that "Even with aid, malnutrition rates are among the world's highest and estimates of mortality range in the hundreds of thousands as a direct result of starvation or famine-related diseases." Some "strength." The Times article, which actually does have its redeeming features, goes on to refer to the "warm glow" in Kim Jong Il's eyes.
And if that's not enough plumping for Pyongyang in one day's New York Times, check out the op-ed page. The piece there includes lines like, "When I was recently in Pyongyang, a leading general, Ri Chan Bok, suddenly said to me over lunch. . . " The op-ed criticizes President Bush for saying that the North Korean regime could not be trusted. It says, "The attitude underlying administration policy is that the North Koreans need us more than we need them. But this attitude ignores political realities in Pyongyang." The truth is, North Korea can't be trusted -- no Communist dictatorship can be -- and the idea that America, the world's sole superpower and a free democracy, should have to adjust its policies to "political realities in Pyongyang" is just laughable. Why doesn't Pyongyang adjust itself to the "political realities" of freedom and democracy that are breaking out in the rest of the world?