Brevity is the soul

of wit. Let's see if it's also the soul of rant.

So here we go:

If The Post accurately related the events of yesterday in Brooklyn, that is, that a young woman who screamed for help as her "estranged husband" beat her on the street and shot her four times (3 in the back), then, we would like to puke all over this wicked city.

We already knew, by experience, that most "men" in New York City are arrogant, spineless, stupid, loud-mouthed bullies. But we didn't think the entire city had been emasculated.

So many ways this story can be developed...but one that comes to mind is this: we already know what bullies do with guns. What would have happened had a real man been allowed to carry one, and heard the lady screaming? Would he have backed off, as did the lone Good Samaritan in this tragic episode, once the abuser had pulled his? Would the abuser have pulled his at all, had the Good Samaritan had a gun at the ready?

Would the lady have been spared 4 gunshot wounds, and the horror, not to mention the chilling realization that you can scream in somebody's face for help in the God-forsaken City of Primping Slackers and Killers and your "neighbors" will just ignore you?

Let's put it another way: we already have ample evidence that making it illegal to carry a legally registered pistol didn't prevent this poor young woman from being shot. If she could have legally carried one herself, she probably would have been able to defend herself, which nobody else could be bothered to do.

OK, we promised brevity, so...

Next and last order of business: How can an alleged "news show," that is, "60 Minutes," do an "expose" on financial derivatives and their role in the financial crises, and liken them to "side bets on a football game?" How can it portray financial instruments as bets and completely ignore the market-function of shifting risk, instead portraying the entire market in derivatives as though it were an OTB outlet? And how can it talk about the subprime mortgage component and omit completely any reference to the Community Reinvestment Act, to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Franklin Raines, et al? How can it discuss the collapse of the financial sector and imprudent risk taking, and not mention Christopher Dodd, the Chairman of the House Banking Committee, and the "VIP" treatment given him by Angel Mozillo, the man who ran Countrywide Credit, notorious subprime-mortgage factory?

How? It's easy -- it's "60 Minutes," and it's completely unreliable.

But then, you alread knew that.

G'day!