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• A Bold front page Sunday’s Arizona Republic devoted its entire page 1 to an editorial on the immigration troubles currently surrounding the state.

  blaming the leaders The editorial takes many leaders – including, among others, former governor Janet Napolitano and current one Jan Brewer, Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, and McCain’s Senate competitor and radio host J.D. Hayworth – to task for looking out for their own political interests first. source

• Everything we expected, and less. Tiger Woods’ airtight public relations machine wanted to make sure nothing fell apart in his statement, and, yeah, it didn’t. But we also learned that they’ve learned nothing from this situation and are treating it just like everything else since the scandal broke. Leave your boy airtight guys. Let’s see how much it helps his rep. Here’s a recap and analysis of what he said:

Key phrase from the statement

• I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again.
• Tiger Woods • At the end of his public statement, which was perhaps the least-riveting piece of live TV we’ve ever seen. The lack of excitement on Woods’ face was visible – and then some. After he said this, he hugged his mom, who also looked very unhappy to be there. He didn’t veer off the script one bit.

Five things we learned from the statement:

• 1st The press has been stalking his wife and kids; that’s not nice, paparazzi!
• 2nd He could return to golf as soon as this year, but maybe not. It’s up in the air.
• 3rd He doesn’t plan to bring up his many mistresses by name, based on today.
• 4th Elin Nordegren didn’t hit him, apparently, as famously thought. He flatly denied it.
• 5th Tiger is still a Buddhist, but he fell away from his religion over the last few years.

Three things to take from this statement:

• Tiger’s PR still sucks This was such a controlled event that you could tell Woods would’ve snapped like a twig if he turned the wrong way. The lack of questions from the press is complete bull. His handlers are handling him way too tightly, leaving no room at all.
• nothing’s gonna change “These are issues between a husband and a wife.” Woods isn’t going to let go of his privacy after the mea culpa, which is a huge mistake on his part, because it means these questions will continue to dog him forever.
• Mobile mea culpa We watched this statement live from our iPhone using the CNN app and it allowed us to live-tweet the story with little trouble. Our society is in a great place if we can watch a man’s life fall apart live on a mobile phone. source

• I cannot stress how strongly our board felt that this should be open to all media and also for the opportunity to question Woods. The position, simply put, is all or none. This is a major story of international scope. To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe.
• Golf Writers’ Association of America president Vartan Kupelian • Regarding this morning’s Tiger Woods press conference, which we plan to cover the crap out of in a few minutes. He isn’t allowing questions, he’s controlling the flow of information, and he’s really hurting his cause. Tiger’s handling of the whole situation is pretty deplorable, we think, from a PR standpoint. The timing – during the Olympics – is suspect. source

• Let’s not jump to conclusions. One of the biggest problems with the 24-hour news cycle is that a lot of misinformation gets out quickly. One of the SECOND biggest problems with the 24-hour news cycle is that many jump to conclusions, looking for an excuse to confirm their own biases and bigotry. Let’s step back a few moments and consider that A LOT OF PEOPLE JUST DIED. There will be time to consider all this stuff later, but for the love of God, let the story play out a little more before you decide to be a jerk and use this to push your agenda – no matter which side you’re on. Save that for later.

• Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran. We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us.
• A statement on Current TV’s Web site • In the statement, Ling and Lee describe the circumstances that led them into North Korea. Basically, a guide in China convinced them to keep walking until they found themselves in the country. They immediately went back into China, but were grabbed anyway by North Korean soldiers. Which, if anything, lends credence to the idea that they weren’t intentionally headed there. • source

• Dear economy, Why do you have to suck so much? Why do you have to ruin so many lives? Why is it that good people are losing their jobs? This is not funny anymore. It never was, but now it’s reaching a point where we can’t be irreverent about this. We’ve been trying. But you make it hard. And it’s affecting us just like everyone else.

• Dear economy, Why do you have to suck so much? Why do you have to ruin so many lives? Why is it that good people are losing their jobs? This is not funny anymore. It never was, but now it’s reaching a point where we can’t be irreverent about this. We’ve been trying. But you make it hard. And it’s affecting us just like everyone else.
• Dear Newspapers, We think you’re awesome. We think that media is important to a good society. You know journalists? They keep us informed: People chasing after the story. People editing it and organizing it. People informing the society at large. Why aren’t you looking out for them? Don’t lay them off, you stupid stupids. That’s an order!

• Dear economy, Why do you have to suck so much? Why do you have to ruin so many lives? Why is it that good people are losing their jobs? This is not funny anymore. It never was, but now it’s reaching a point where we can’t be irreverent about this. We’ve been trying. But you make it hard. And it’s affecting us just like everyone else.
• Dear Newspapers, We think you’re awesome. We think that media is important to a good society. You know journalists? They keep us informed: People chasing after the story. People editing it and organizing it. People informing the society at large. Why aren’t you looking out for them? Don’t lay them off, you stupid stupids. That’s an order!
• Dear Readers, Time to level with you: We can’t pretend that it’s good times and nothing but. And as a blog that’s made approximately $19 in advertising before expenses, we’re obviously not in it for the money. So, if we make jokes about how bad this is, it’s because sad funerals suck. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.