Bhutto's still dead

Dear Lugubrious,

Swami has much knowledge and even more insight, but here’s a prediction about the year that we believe will stand the test of time and events.

If you thought there could never been anything approaching the Oops Moment of the Chj Trib’s “Dewey Defeats Truman” gaffe 60 years ago, they’ve come very close to it.

And it prompts a deeper question.

If you ever wondered whether the way newspapers do their business is teetering on extinction and obsolescence, or whether it’s just another blip in trendiness to think the Net is the real future, consider what the Tribune did Sunday without an apparent blink of a journalistic eye.

The weekly inserted Parade Magazine, which is a staple in many Sunday newspapers, features a shockingly eerie cover story based on an interview with Benazir Bhutto. Big portrait of her, too.

For those of you who’ve been locked in a cave for a few weeks, let Swami be the first to tell you that she is DEAD. She was murdered.

She’s not being interviewed by anyone these days. She has no plans for the future, as far as we can tell.

The cover page headline states, “I Am What the Terrorists Most Fear.” Spooky.

There’s a smaller supporting headline: “Is She America’s Best Hope in the Region”? Really Spooky

The long interview is oblivious to real events as if they had never happened. It’s the ultimate Emily Lattella moment in journalism.

The Tribune briefly explained its cranial seizure with a little "we had to do this" note. But there was no full explanation from those people who produce Parade elsewhere and supply it to the Trib why they did not withdraw the edition.

The home Internet site for Parade acknowledges she’s dead, but the magazine itself was printed weeks ago and offers no hint or explanation of why they chose to proceed.

We can presume without reading her words that Bhutto was more optimistic about solving her homeland's problems while she was alive. She's probably less optimistic now that she's, you know, dead.

Maybe advertisers think their investment in that particular edition was still a worthy investment though the entire edition is tainted by a zany goofiness. Was it just spilt milk that nobody thought to clean up or adequately explain?

The second story poses the eternal question and then attempts to answer: “Why Do We Forget Things?” Indeed.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.