Sunday, May 20, 2012

A Correction and an Apology

On Friday I posted "Spain's Intelligence Services Investigating Whether Anglo Media Spreading Lies About EspaƱa" without noting the story was two years old.
And why, wary reader might ask, didn't I note it?
I skipped past the dateline.

I can't blame the press of business, except for some company coming public and the DJIA declining for the 12th time in 13 sessions, culminating in the worst week of the year for U.S. equities, there wasn't anything going on that should lead to sloppiness on my part.
Except laziness.

It wasn't a case of "Too good to check", a phrase that I first heard when Tom Friedman used it in the same year as my supposed 'news', 2010 but which is apparently as old as the hills.

It certainly was not a matter of any animus toward Spain.
I've had a soft spot in my heart for folks on the Iberian Peninsula since I learned about Ferdinand and Isabella giving Columbus the Royal Okey-dokey which set in motion a train of events that led to my birth.*

It was laziness and I'm sorry.

*My favorite example of that type of parochialism is the joke that has a small Italian village choosing a representative for a Papal audience the local Bishop has somehow wrangled.
After much discussion the town elders decide the tailor would both best represent them and be able to describe the honor when he returned.

After the audience the tailor is met by the whole town and asked "Well?"
He is silent, apparently searching for the words to convey the scene.
One of the elders, trying to prompt the flow of verbal images asks, What kind of man is Il Papa
The tailor responds:
He's a 42 regular.

In the final analysis it's always about us.

Again, I'm sorry. This time for the joke.

Thanks to the reader who pointed out the error.