February 11, 2009

"Still, there is considerable evidence that Mr. Williams was truly sick, including the fact that he has since died."

A little incidental death humor in a serious NYT article.

24 comments:

Host with the Most said...

Intentional humor? Perhaps. Either way, it's very funny.

But it also very aptly exposes the decline in quality of writing ability and/or editing taking place in the "Paper of Record" - the New York Times.

And that fact is not funny at all. It's truly sad.

Greybeard said...

Spit take!
"What would you like on your tombstone, Mr.Williams?"
"See, I told you I was sick!"

Host with the Most said...

Ah, the insipidity of the New York timnes!

traditionalguy said...

The trial by a missing exculpatory witness scam, but done under the cover of a true kindness shown by the prosecution team. "We won" is the only legal ethic recognised by this prosecution team, so why the effort to cover up their guile now?

vet66 said...

Welcome to the Tom Daschle Health and Human Services Department. You have to die to prove you are sick at which time the decision to provide minimal medical service will be determined by your actuarial death date prorated for days not used.

All proceeds will be treated as taxable income.

The Dude said...

I have read transcripts of things like that - a recent favorite Q. "Did you use the death certificate as a diagnostic tool?"

A. "No, as the patient was dead at that time."

Lawyers - could they be any funnier?

William said...

The prognosis for dead people is very grave.

Anonymous said...

"The rumors of my death have been greatly underreported"

traditionalguy said...

Death and Judgement is the one appointment no one ever misses. The Classic movie channel always entertains me with the greatest actors and actresses. Then I remember that ALL of those people are dead and gone now. The whole population born in 1900 has been taken away. Death is an enemy. We need to fight that enemy to the death.

Jen Bradford said...

The other day I admit to laughing at the headline: Woman at center of right-to-die battle dies" They've since changed it, alas.

Big Mike said...

The comment is inadvertently hilarious, but the article itself is pretty scary. Did the prosecutors deliberately concoct a phony complaint against Senator Stevens in an effort to unseat a Republican senator in favor of a Democrat? I guess there’s no way to get a do-over on that election, is there?

Henry said...

Death is an enemy.

Death is our friend. As Anne Lamott likes to say:

In 100 years, all new people.

Curtiss said...

We are all on the path that we chose, but all those paths lead to the same place.

But why dwell on it?

traditionalguy said...

Death is no friend, unless you want to speed up an inheritance, like Anna Nichole Smith. The reality of death is cruel and heartless. The FDR era socialist "Death Tax" will disappear in 2010, but then reappear in 2011 with less than half of 2009's Unified Credit, Unless our congressional rulers amend our "confiscation of wealth at death tax".If you know a rich 85+ friend, it will be wise to hire him/her live in guards in 2010. His descendants will double their inheritence if he dies off in 2010 instead of 2011, under current law.

Swifty Quick said...

What's so funny? The fact that he died does tend to show that sickness was not a ruse.

But from my point of view as a defense-oriented lawyer, quietly removing the witness across the continent because he's deathly ill doesn't help the prosecution, but rather it's even more inicative of bad faith and denial of a fair trial. This is testimony that ought to have been perpetuated, not hidden.

Maxine Weiss said...

Exactly what is so narcissistic about wanting to have children of one's own? If I'm going to invest years and tears and joy and tens of thousands of dollars raising a child through college, why not invest it on my own DNA rather than "buying a pig in a poke" by adopting? Wanting to send one's own DNA into the future is not a recent invention of a "culture of narcissism." It has a long evolutionary history

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rutten11-2009feb11,0,1394657.column

Triangle Man said...

Oh, hey Maxine, it must be off-topic Wednesday. That's great, because I have got a lot I want to get off my chest, and I think Althouse's blog comments are a perfect place to vent my spleen.

So, what is the deal with airline food?

Paul Brinkley said...

"Gilliam is one of the most manipulative bastards in that group of utterly manipulative bastards. Michael is a selfish bastard, Cleese a control freak, Jonesy is shagged out and now forgets everything, and Graham as you know is still dead. I am the only real nice one!" - Eric Idle

Unknown said...

My daddy always said that you should dnot make fun of something and then in doing so do the same stupid thing:
Host with the Most--
"Ah, the insipidity of the New York timnes!"
it it The New York
Times and you need an editor.

KCFleming said...

I don't mind dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens.






Re: "it it The New York
Times and you need an editor."

Heh.

The Dude said...

I think what Maxine was asking is, if you put lipstick on a pig in a poke is the pig still a feminist? At least that's what I got out of it.

hdhouse said...

Mr. Williams the now dead formerly alive...

William said...

Death trivia: Lovers used to carry a lock of each other's hair on them. Catholics believed that on resurrection day you went about the earth gathering all the missing parts of your body. Thus on judgement day if you carried a lock of your lover's hair you got to meet them one last time....It's a romantic thought but, on the down side, you'll have to encounter again every last barber in your life. Tip appropriately.

Nichevo said...

But now we have Facebook.