What rough beast?

Behold, today's centerpiece from the Nation's Other Newspaper of Record!

It's generally true that news about the Big Wide World just doesn't cut it in the provinces anymore. Yes, the pirates have been on the front three times this week -- twice as the lead -- at one of our favorite stops, but that says less about the value of world news than it does about the importance of being able to say PIRATES! on 1A. And the new! improved! thrice-weekly version of the local Major Metropolitan Daily has redesigned news even farther out of public view, even though the world is so close that I can actually see another country from my office window.* But surely it's a sign that the center cannot hold when the Washington Post greets us with:

Who let the dog out?

'Scuse us while we hork noisily on the living room carpet.

* I can see Tiger Stadium too, but that doesn't mean I ought to run for vice president of baseball.